Asda has rolled out a series of new checkout technology as part of the latest stage in its shift to cut ties with Walmart’s legacy IT systems.
The supermarket giant has introduced and updated a total of almost 17,000 checkouts, 6,000 hardware installations and 30,000 scan-and-go devices, alongside staff receiving retaining, reported The Grocer.
The new transition project has been developed in collaboration with checkout technology provider NCR, and has allowed the supermarket to build its “front end from scratch”.
It comes amid Asda’s revelation earlier this year that its owners were still paying Walmart for the supermarket’s IT system, three years after acquiring the grocer.
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Asda senior director of retail transformation Kevin Besford said: “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.”
“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.”
However the transition, dubbed ‘Project Future’, is understood to have also caused difficulties in April this year, when the supermarket suffered an IT payroll system glitch which impacted over 30,000 staff and left hundreds underpaid.
