Asda trials grocery pickup at subway stops

For about two years now, grocery chains have experimented with “subway stores”–essentially walls of product photos with QR codes that shoppers can scan with their iPhones to order products.

Now one chain in Great Britain is taking the next step by offering shoppers the ability to pick their groceries up at subway stations.

On Wednesday Asda announced a pilot project that will let shoppers retrieve groceries on the same day they ordered them in the parking lots of six London tube stops.

The pilot is being done in conjunction with Transport for London, the government agency responsible for the London underground.

“We believe customers will value the convenience of collecting shopping at their home tube station rather than carrying the products bought in premium convenience stores on their commute home,” Asda retail director Mark Ibbotson said in a statement.

If successful, Asda will expand the pickup program to other London subway stations as part of a plan to add 1,000 places where customers can pick up online orders–a system known broadly in Europe as “click and collect” grocery shopping.

Asda is one of the U.K.’s Big Four supermarket chains, along with Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons. Walmart owns it.

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