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Asda returns to virtual stores - probably for good this time
It really is back to the future for Asda and its online operations with the planned opening of a 'virtual' store concept that will service its growing internet ordering service. Goods will be picked from shelves in the non-customer outlet and then dispatched via its delivery vans.
By Glynn Davis
Some years ago I was given a tour of exactly the same sort of outlet (although it was called a distribution hub I seem to recall) in Watford as Asda was building up
The solution was a sort of virtual store but without any of the complex software, and conveyor belts as used by Ocado in its enormous and impressive bespoke distribution hub.
However, the Watford unit was abandoned and Asda knocked its internet aspirations on the head to instead concentrate on other things. Its online strategy was not exactly helped by the disastrous internet experiment its parent Wal-Mart had undertaken with a Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist. The lesson being - outsourcing any retail operations to a VC is a very bad idea.
But fast forward to 2009 and the world is a very different place and Asda is again pushing hard with online deliveries as it attempts to catch market leader Tesco. Its home shopping sales rose 50 per cent in the last quarter and it is in the midst of re-launching its website. I can't see history repeating itself this time as Asda is more likely to roll out virtual stores than shut them down.
glynnd@theretailbulletin.com
Tagged as: asda | virtual stores | online shopping
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