Asda POS software (2)

The project has involved more than 6,000 hardware installations

Asda has rolled out new checkout software, touchscreens and scanners across its estate, in its transition from legacy Walmart IT systems to its own purpose-built one.

The project has affected nearly 17,000 checkouts, involved more than 6,000 hardware installations and seen about 30,000 scan and go devices updated and an equal number of staff retrained, according to Kevin Besford, Asda senior director of retail transformation.

Asda has worked with checkout technology provider NCR on the update, which it says will improve the experience of both shoppers and staff.

“Asda’s Future Programme is part of the biggest transformation in our history, converting over 24 years of Walmart systems and processes to a new and independent way of operating,” said Besford. “As part of our separation from Walmart, we needed to remove our current manned checkouts and change the software across all our other checkouts in 612 of our stores.

“This has given us the opportunity to build our own Asda front end from scratch, so we’ve added brand new touchscreens and scanners. This change has made things much quicker and simpler for our colleagues and customers, and we now have the potential to unlock much more functionality and innovation than before.

“To help deliver this, we’ve partnered with the world-leading provider NCR.”

Not all has gone smoothly in Asda’s transition to new IT systems, dubbed ‘Project Future’ by the supermarket, with new systems leading to thousands of workers being incorrectly paid in March.