In what’s described as a first for the UK, a new 16ft foot tall and 8ft wide automated parcel tower has been installed at Asda’s Trafford Park store following a successful trial by parent company Walmart in the US.
The tower, which acts as a giant parcel vending machine, is located inside the store so customers can pick up their online order in less than 60 seconds and will also take returns.
Customers can choose from thousands of items available on www.george.com from their computer or smartphone, and select the store at checkout. When customers visit the store, they scan a barcode sent to their smartphone at the Parcel Tower to receive their order. The service is also available for selected third party partners including Asos, Missguided and Decathlon.
In November 2015, Asda launched its ‘toyou’ service, the UK’s first end-to-end parcel solution which uses minute-by-minute tracking and it allows consumers to return or collect purchases from third party online retailers at more than 600 Asda stores. Parcels can also be collected and returned from Asda petrol forecourts and Click & Collect points across the country.
This technology is said to offer customers a quicker and more convenient way to collect parcels, which has seen over 100 parcel towers installed across Walmart in the US. Asda Trafford Park is the first store in the UK to house the new technology.
Neil Drake, Asda’s toyou – retail process, systems and innovation manager, said: “We know speed and convenience are important factors to customers and partners of our toyou service, and we’re always looking for new ways to bring that to them. The Parcel Towers are the latest example of how we’re using new technology to save our customers time and money.”
Stephen Clinton, store manager at Asda Trafford Park, said: “We’re delighted to be the first store in the UK to trial the Parcel Tower for our customers. We have seen a fantastic response to the quick service in the past few days and we hope it continues.”
Trafford Park’s Parcel Tower was installed at the end of last week as a proof of concept, it can hold up to 500 parcels and has already served 1,500 local customers already.
