asda

Name: Simon Gregg

Job title: Senior vice-president of e-commerce, Asda

What have you been doing online to react to the cost of living crisis? We have ensured our full range of more than 200 Smart Price products are available online. We have also invested over £80m in a new value-focused range that replaces Asda’s Smart Price, offering 300 low-priced ‘Just Essentials’ items in stores and online, as well as a commitment to ‘Dropped and Locked’ prices on 100 family favourites until the end of the year. Across our non-food offer we have launched a Home Bargains price match to help keep costs down. For customers who want the convenience of shopping online, we offer competitively priced delivery and click & collect slots starting from £1 and 50p respectively.

How do you see online fitting in with your measures to boost reusable materials and remove plastic? We have already removed single-use carrier bags from our online operation, with the exception of items such as meat, fish and poultry products. Where carrier bags are required or available, we work to ensure the sustainability and reusability of the materials used.

How much of an impact does rising fuel prices have on online operations? We recognise rising fuel costs are not only an issue for retailers but for all of our customers too, and have an opportunity to help by saving them a separate trip to the supermarket through our home shopping service. We continue to monitor a number of macro factors and plan our operation to ensure that our service remains affordable. In addition, we will always look for ways to reduce our reliance on fuel and continually investigate alternative energy sources, as well as working with delivery partners who are introducing new delivery models including bike couriers.

Do you have any plans online for the Queen’s jubilee? In the run-up to the event there will be takeovers online, with customers already invited to get involved in a ‘Find the Jewels’ campaign that sees them solve clues across the site to win prizes.