Asda set to offer nationwide Net shopping

Jane Wakefield ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 14 Dec 1999 11:59 GMT

Supermarket chain Asda is to offer nationwide Net shopping by 2005, and will start by expanding its delivery areas next year, the company announced Tuesday.

Net shopping is proving very popular with consumers and most of the big supermarkets now have some form of Web presence. Asda is the only UK grocery store to operate dedicated depots for Internet orders.

The store currently has two depots, serving one million households in the Croydon and Watford area. Asda plans to open two more next summer. The location is yet to be decided, but the store is toying with the idea of putting at least one in another large UK city. By 2005 it plans to have between 12 and 15 depots to serve the whole country.

According to an Asda spokeswoman the average weekly spend online is £80 and the top ten products are all fruit and vegetables. Consumers can choose from 5,000 goods in total.

"The service is going very well," she said. "We intend to push the online element because that is where the main drive is."

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