Asda has announced plans to extend a rapid online service for delivery within one hour to a total of 96 stores, after a trial exceeded expectations.
Asda launched the 'Express Delivery' service with a four-store trial in June, at Asda’s Halifax, Poole, Rotherham and St Matthews stores.
"We are rolling out our Express Delivery service to almost 100 stores after a trial showed there was a clear gap in the market for a speedy delivery service offering our full online product range for delivery within one hour," said Simon Gregg, Asda’s vice president of online grocery.
The Need For Speed
Rapid delivery is the latest frontier in the battle for grocery shoppers' cash.
A raft of new firms, including Weezy, Getir, Dija and Gorillas, are offering deliveries within 15 minutes of ordering, prompting traditional supermarket groups to rethink their business models.
Tesco said on Wednesday it had expanded its 'Whoosh' service to 60 shops.
Asda Express Delivery Service
Asda's service allows customers to order up to 70 grocery products from a range of over 30,000 for delivery within one hour if they live within a three-mile radius of a store.
“As the only grocer to offer this service, we have seen a significant number of customers access this option, with slots regularly selling out at our pilot stores," said Gregg. "We anticipate more demand for this flexible service now that many of our customers have returned to their place of work and children are back at school.”
Delivery slots cost £8.50, with no minimum spend requirement.
Asda, owned by the Issa brothers and private equity firm TDR Capital, also recently extended its rapid delivery partnership with Uber Eats to over 300 stores.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. For more Retail news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
