Asda to expand home deliveries with 'ghost store' concept

The Leeds-based group is preparing to open a 'ghost store' in London to allow it to meet more than 10,000 orders a week.

The store will not be open to the public, but staffed with more than 300 employees who will pick items from shelves and load them into vans for delivery.

Asda first signalled its expansion into ghost stores or picking centres in May last year with a 50,000 sq ft virtual store in Morley near Leeds, aimed to tap into the demand for online home shopping.

A spokeswoman said latest 96,000 sq ft ghost store in Enfield, north London, will replicate the success of the Morley store.

"We are treating it as our biggest-ever store opening because it will mean that we are able to reach millions of customers that may not have used Asda before," she said.

"It follows the successful trial in Morley and will reach millions of people that did not have access to a store locally or home delivery."

About 500 staff at the Morley store tour the aisles picking items from shelves and pallets to meet online orders. It serves customers within one hour's drive.

"We have laid the store out in the very best way for our colleagues to be the most efficient in picking," said Asda chief financial officer Judith McKenna of the Morley store.

When picking in-store, Asda achieves about 120 orders per hour. At the Morley centre, it achieves close to 250 per hour.

Orders met from conventional stores achieve about 3,500 deliveries per week using 20 vans. The Morley centre can carry out 12,000 to 15,000 slots per week with 50 vans.

The latest Asda ghost store opens on August 23. Asda is second in the delivery league with sales of about 900m a year.

Tesco, the UK's biggest grocery deliverer, also has a couple of online-only warehouses. Sainsbury's tested the concept about six years ago but scrapped it.

However, Ocado, which delivers Waitrose goods, uses automated picking centres.