Store gallery: Holograms and automation at Asda Stevenage

The store was designated Asda’s official technology “test and learn” hub store in August and, since phase one of the initiative was rolled out, the grocer has trialled 24 new pieces of technology in the shop.

Senior director of central retail operations Louise Bagshaw said Asda was moving quickly on these innovations “to prove that a heritage retailer can be quick and agile when it comes to innovating in the tech sector”.

“You’ll often see people standing there, just watching the holograms change”

Neil Baker, Asda

She also said Asda was conducting regular feedback sessions with customers and store staff to get a sense of which innovations were working or not.

“We’re working very hard here to work out which new technologies can make our colleagues’ jobs easier and our customers’ experience in-store better. Having all of the innovations under one roof also means that at head office we can keep a closer eye on everything and figure out what works and what doesn’t,” Bagshaw added.

She said across the entire technology team, Asda now has more than 400 staff, with three people devoted to working on innovations at the Stevenage store alone and that team set to expand further.

Holograms, robots and electronic tags

One of the most striking innovations on display at the store currently is 15 holographic projectors spread throughout the branch, including three near the front that show a three-step guide for customers on using the supermarket’s Scan & Go service.

The other projectors can be found in the bakery section, drawing customer attention to Asda’s range of customisable cakes and another set above its seasonal aisle – currently promoting the sale of Easter Eggs.

Stevenage store manager Neil Baker said Asda was one of the first retailers in the UK to trial 3D holograms in-store and customers had been reacting positively to them so far.

“You’ll often see people standing there, just watching the holograms change. A lot of times, people will stand there filming them or taking pictures, so they certainly seem to be working for us in terms of drawing customer attention,” he said

Another new innovation in-store that Asda is excited about is its new Cleveron automated click-and-collect machine.

The automated machine, which is at the second entrance to the store next to the Decathlon shop-in-shop, can be loaded with up to 250 orders from customers at a time.

When a customer comes into the store, they place their order number into the machine that then finds the corresponding parcel and delivers it to them via a window. Customers can also use the machines to register returns, which are placed in a separate return parcels slot.

Deputy store manager Michael Rose, who has been helping lead on several of the innovations, said the automated click and collect was saving staff time that once would have been taken up by going to find online orders.

Asda has also used the store to experiment with its latest rollout of electronic shelf labels, which were most recently being trialled in the store’s laundry aisle.

Baker said the electronic labels could be a “game-changer for us in terms of efficiencies both in colleague’s time being used up by manually changing prices but also when it comes to us wasting paper and cardboard making new signs every time we have a promotion”.

Big screens and two-way intercoms

However, not all of the innovations being trialled at the store are using space-age holograms or robotic technology. Asda has spent months testing new digital signage, including some of the largest screens anywhere in its portfolio, in the store’s George clothing department and optometrist.

Asda is also piloting a two-way intercom system, currently based in its fresh food aisle, which would allow customers to interact directly with staff even if they are on the other side of the store. A camera system currently monitoring one section of the store’s fresh fruit offering gathers information about availability and sales in 15-minute increments.

Behind the scenes, Asda is also working on a number of apps designed to streamline and improve staff workloads around things like checking used-by dates and checking availability.

As the Stevenage store also features one of the supermarket chain’s staff training academies and is at the forefront of its tech innovations, its ‘colleague area’ has also been refurbished.

It has been fitted with an area called ‘The Hub’ where staff will be offered training on the new innovations and can also use computers for everything from “viewing their payslips to booking holidays”.

Bagshaw said Asda has not put any time limits in place in terms of assessing which innovations have succeeded.