Asda is to hand its buying power over to its customers in a bid to engage with consumers and provide their every desire at the click of a button.
The new initiative will see consumers calling the shots on a wide variety of products, potentially including produce, from the autumn through contact with the retailer’s buyers around the globe.
Designed to make sure there is never a shortage in the goods its customers desire, the scheme will see customers polled, following emails, through either Asda’s website or its internal customer feedback programme, Pulse of the Nation, which surveys more than 13,000 consumers on a range of issues.
The programme is planned as a pilot that will begin this autumn for non-food items and will encompass all 363 Asda stores in the UK. It is being run under Rick Bendel, who oversees international marketing for parent-company Wal-Mart outside the US.
A spokesperson for Asda told freshinfo: “We want to engage our customers and ensure they receive the amount of choice they deserve from us. It will essentially involve our buyers around the world emailing pictures and descriptions for people to vote on.
“We obviously wouldn’t stock products if they weren’t popular but it’s about making the most of those products and ensuring people know they are out there and want them.
“For us this is an insight exercise and the digital channel seemed the best way to conduct that. I don’t think people necessarily understand the process big supermarkets use to source products around the globe and we want to be transparent about how we do this.
“Produce will offer its own challenges with obviously quite short lead times but there may be some opportunities where consumer feedback on products could be key.”
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