The incredible turnaround that led to Asda online winning The Grocer's Star Order in January reflects 18 months of hard work, says Julian Hunt
Regular readers of The Grocer&'s quarterly online shopping survey will have spotted that we have recently been reporting on what must surely be one of the great comebacks in grocery retailing. Four years ago, Asda&'s online operation was a shambles and consistently at the bottom of our survey. But by this January, things had changed beyond all recognition and we presented the retailer with our Star Order. It&'s not been a one-off either: just last month we again praised the service for being &'spot on&', particularly when it came to substitutions.
Richard Ramsden, who heads the retailer&'s home shopping business, says this incredible turnaround reflects 18 months or so of hard work: &"There has been an awful lot going on in the past couple of years. But the one thing we have changed is to become more customer focused.
&"We are now seeing what we have put in place bearing fruit. We are hitting profit plan for the first time in five years and are hitting our like-for-like sales plans. And customers are telling us that we are doing a good job.&"
Ramsden says that&'s because he and his colleagues have focused on every aspect of the site. They have improved the admin support so that product listings are 99.9% correct all the time, for instance, and introduced smarter themed e-marketing that keeps customers coming back. Stung by criticism of poor service levels, there has also been a real emphasis on improving the training offered to all those involved in the operation. Ramsden says: &"Call centre staff understand the system and how it works. We have an incentive scheme to make sure pickers are doing the best job they can and choosing products as a customer would, and we make sure drivers know to call if they are running late.&"
One of the biggest things Asda did was change the way delivery slots are allocated to customers. Two years back, customers were segmented based on where they lived; now all slots are available to all customers. The result? Customers&' perceptions have improved and a three-day wait for deliveries has been cut to just one day. Ramsden says: &"Most customers can now order for the next day.&"
Asda has also introduced a flexible delivery charge. If you spend more than £50 on Monday to Thursday, delivery costs £1.95 in the morning, it&'s free in the afternoon and just £3.95 in the evening. That&'s gone down well with the punters and Ramsden says it has also encouraged shoppers to take deliveries outside the weekend times, so improving the availability of delivery slots at peak times.
One of the things The Grocer&'s mystery shoppers really like about Asda&'s service is its policy of charging the price of the original item when a more expensive product has to be used for any substitution.
As someone once said, &'Every Little Helps&'. And Ramsden says it&'s important for Asda to get things right: &"The demographic profile of our online business is almost identical to that of Tesco.com - so our focus on value for money is key, as is making sure our service is the best in the industry.&"
Asda continues to add new ideas to the site - such as a clever feature that defines portion sizes in fresh veg so you know exactly how much to order. The retailer is also engaging with suppliers a lot more to develop its categories online and is working with colleagues on Wal-Mart&'s site to improve the offer.
Ramsden promises: &"Over the next 12 months you will see dramatic improvements to the site that will benefit customers considerably.&"
In the future, expansion is a priority. While non food is offered nationally, about 45% of the population can be reached by the grocery service. Ramsden says: &"Long term, we do want to get to national coverage on grocery as well. We don&'t have a timescale; we believe that we can get 90% coverage with our existing store base.&"n
Regular readers of The Grocer&'s quarterly online shopping survey will have spotted that we have recently been reporting on what must surely be one of the great comebacks in grocery retailing. Four years ago, Asda&'s online operation was a shambles and consistently at the bottom of our survey. But by this January, things had changed beyond all recognition and we presented the retailer with our Star Order. It&'s not been a one-off either: just last month we again praised the service for being &'spot on&', particularly when it came to substitutions.
Richard Ramsden, who heads the retailer&'s home shopping business, says this incredible turnaround reflects 18 months or so of hard work: &"There has been an awful lot going on in the past couple of years. But the one thing we have changed is to become more customer focused.
&"We are now seeing what we have put in place bearing fruit. We are hitting profit plan for the first time in five years and are hitting our like-for-like sales plans. And customers are telling us that we are doing a good job.&"
Ramsden says that&'s because he and his colleagues have focused on every aspect of the site. They have improved the admin support so that product listings are 99.9% correct all the time, for instance, and introduced smarter themed e-marketing that keeps customers coming back. Stung by criticism of poor service levels, there has also been a real emphasis on improving the training offered to all those involved in the operation. Ramsden says: &"Call centre staff understand the system and how it works. We have an incentive scheme to make sure pickers are doing the best job they can and choosing products as a customer would, and we make sure drivers know to call if they are running late.&"
One of the biggest things Asda did was change the way delivery slots are allocated to customers. Two years back, customers were segmented based on where they lived; now all slots are available to all customers. The result? Customers&' perceptions have improved and a three-day wait for deliveries has been cut to just one day. Ramsden says: &"Most customers can now order for the next day.&"
Asda has also introduced a flexible delivery charge. If you spend more than £50 on Monday to Thursday, delivery costs £1.95 in the morning, it&'s free in the afternoon and just £3.95 in the evening. That&'s gone down well with the punters and Ramsden says it has also encouraged shoppers to take deliveries outside the weekend times, so improving the availability of delivery slots at peak times.
One of the things The Grocer&'s mystery shoppers really like about Asda&'s service is its policy of charging the price of the original item when a more expensive product has to be used for any substitution.
As someone once said, &'Every Little Helps&'. And Ramsden says it&'s important for Asda to get things right: &"The demographic profile of our online business is almost identical to that of Tesco.com - so our focus on value for money is key, as is making sure our service is the best in the industry.&"
Asda continues to add new ideas to the site - such as a clever feature that defines portion sizes in fresh veg so you know exactly how much to order. The retailer is also engaging with suppliers a lot more to develop its categories online and is working with colleagues on Wal-Mart&'s site to improve the offer.
Ramsden promises: &"Over the next 12 months you will see dramatic improvements to the site that will benefit customers considerably.&"
In the future, expansion is a priority. While non food is offered nationally, about 45% of the population can be reached by the grocery service. Ramsden says: &"Long term, we do want to get to national coverage on grocery as well. We don&'t have a timescale; we believe that we can get 90% coverage with our existing store base.&"n
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