Asda is trialling a self-service returns ‘drop box’, in which customers can deposit unwanted or faulty goods and receive their refund automatically.
Shoppers returning items – be they electrical, home goods, ambient or fresh grocery items – first scan their receipt at the self-service machine, then the barcode of the item they want to return. After following on-screen instructions, the shopper then drops the item into a chute, or places it in a cupboard.
At the machine the customer selects the reason for the return, but, Asda said, “if something doesn’t quite seem right” for example the value of returns is particularly high or “the reason given doesn’t add up” the process pauses and a colleague is alerted.
If the refund cannot be processed in this way – for example if the customer no longer has their receipt – they call for assistance from a store colleague, and the refund will be processed manually. It can also handle product exchanges.
The self-service returns trial – which is taking place at Asda’s Ashton-under-Lyne store in Greater Manchester – “removes the need for customers to queue at the customer service desk” the supermarket said.
“We recognise that a key pinch point for customers is at the kiosk and customer service desks in our stores,” said Alexander Lacy, senior manager retail front end service, “with added queue times and multiple missions taking place in a small area.”
The trial is one of two underway at the Ashton-under-Lyne store, with The Grocer reporting last month the proof-of-concept test of a vape and cigarette vending machine. The first phase of the trials sees shoppers wanting to buy any tobacco products, vape products and certain Nicorette SKUs request the product from a member of staff, who selects it on a screen, before the product is dispensed. The staff member then scans it through the till and takes payment from the shopper.
Asda said phase two of the vape vending machine trial would see customers able to select the products they wish to buy at self-serve tills. Age verification would then take place and customers would receive a receipt to scan at the automated product vending machine to receive their item.
The two new systems would “improve the customer journey in our Ashton store” Lacy said, and “reduce queue times and allow colleagues to focus on serving customers when and where they need us.”
The supermarket is also rolling out Amazon collection and return points at several stores in the run-up to Christmas, The Grocer understands. Similar lockers have been in place in Morrisons stores for some time, allowing Amazon shoppers to select stores as ‘click & collect’ points for their online orders at a time that suits them.
No comments yet