Asda Stevenage looks to the future of retail tech

Asda’s concept technology store in Stevenage is testing out the likes of 3D holograms and electronic shelf labels.

"We're testing new tools which will make our colleagues' lives easier and our customers' shopping experience better,” says Michael Rose, who is part of the project team.

“Having the projects running at the same time will mean we will see the benefits of how different tech works together. At the moment we have over 20 different initiatives that we’re learning from and we’re working on what’s coming next.”

"The 3D holograms which we have in our bakery department, seasonal and on Scan & Go in store are proving very popular. We’re one of the first retailers in the UK to test out the holograms in our store. The holograms are projected in the air to showcase our products and how to use the Scan & Go mobile service,” he adds.

Electronic shelf labels and Click & Collect

One of the tests has been in the laundry aisle using electronic shelf labels, rather than traditional paper-based price labels. Asda has trialled labels from four different suppliers. They are about the size of a post-it note and run on batteries which last up to five years. In the future they’ll be fully integrated into the retailer’s system so any price changes can be loaded up immediately.

“We can have 3,000 price changes in a week so could save our colleagues a lot of time. Our customers seem to love the idea too,” says Rose.

Another innovation is the Cleveron Flex Machine, an automated parcel service for Click & Collect shoppers. "Basically it is a large vending machine. You put your order number in and the machine will find your parcel and it will appear at the front for you to pick up. In the past a colleague would have to go and find the parcel, but now the machine does it all. It's pretty cool,” Rose comments.

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