Project Future: Driving Asda’s Transformation

At Asda, we’ve made significant progress this year delivering ‘Project Future’ – Europe’s largest systems implementation programme – which will provide the ability to step-change our data capabilities and customer experience. This project involves the separation of more than 2,500 systems from our former owner Walmart and lays the technological foundations for Asda’s future growth. Ultimately, we believe it will give Asda the best systems in the grocery sector.

As part of a phenomenal effort by the whole team, we have already completed the migration onto several brand-new systems including finance, checkouts, HR and payroll, CRM, depots, our clothing brand – George.com, and a new store picking system. More specifically, in nine months, we have:

• Introduced 16,500 new checkouts and 28,000 Scan & Go devices across our stores, enhancing customer experience.

• Fully converted 20 depots a critical step in enhancing our logistics operations

• Successfully migrated over 9.6 million historic George orders to a new online platform, to give customers an even better shopping experience with the UK’s third-largest fashion brand by sales volumes.

• Launched a new store picking system, streamlining the processing of over 4 million items daily from delivery to store shelves, with the help of 26,000 trained colleagues and 10,000 upgraded devices.

As we move into our peak trading period during Q4, we will continue to take a pragmatic approach when delivering the Future programme to minimise any potential impact on colleagues, customers and suppliers during the busiest time of the year.

As a result, we are prioritising the conversion of around 850 sites, including PFS sites, smaller supermarkets, and Asda Express convenience stores during the remainder of this year, over our bigger stores where the bulk of customers shop. The conversion of our larger superstores and complex depots will accelerate from early January onwards following the peak trading period.

This is a sensible and pragmatic approach for the business during the ‘Golden Quarter’ period. It is also the right thing to do for customers, as it will help to give them the best possible Christmas – with Asda’s commitment to uncompromising value and an enhanced product offering.

The remainder of Project Future continues at pace as we work towards a full separation from Walmart’s systems.  In time, the new systems will give us the agility to make improvements quickly, fine-tune our operations and maximise our data capabilities.

Ultimately, Project Future is a pivotal moment in Asda’s history as we move to new and sophisticated platforms that are more responsive to the requirements of our customers, colleagues, and suppliers. This transformation marks the beginning of a new chapter for Asda, one where we can shape our future and accelerate our growth.