ASDA: Making grocery shopping more convenient with Uber Eats

For over five decades, ASDA has built up a reputation in the UK for being one of the most affordable and convenient options for meeting a wide array of customer needs. From its early days, ASDA has pioneered popular customer-first initiatives. They were one of the first businesses in the UK to offer discounted goods to consumers, and one of the first to build supermarkets that sold food items along with other everyday products customers need like clothing and home goods.

With a long history of putting the needs and preferences of the consumer first, it's no surprise that ASDA has brought those same values to the era of online ordering and delivery. The company has been offering delivery, including same-day delivery, for years – getting on top of the trend before the pandemic forced retailers to adopt it en masse. Not content to stop at good enough, they've worked in the last couple of years to improve the speed and convenience of the delivery options they provide. Partnering with Uber Eats has played a key role in that strategy.

The company has always prioritised offering competitive prices for products customers need. The UK's recent rise in cost of living has only increased the importance of this principle. To help customers weather an increase in inflation, ASDA launched its new budget range 'Just Essentials', ensuring that customers had access to its lowest-cost own-brand range of products across all of its stores and online.

ASDA's strategic principles are all about creating a great customer experience, which is the best way to earn customer loyalty. But beyond their commitment to meeting customers' needs easily and affordably, they also offer a rewards programme to inspire further loyalty. And recognising the difficult financial position many of their customers are in, the programme they're launching rewards loyal customers with pounds rather than points. That's a practical way to pay customers back for their support.

ASDA is on a mission to make grocery shopping more convenient and accessible. Consumers are busy, and the company is aware that many of its customers lack a car. To make essential grocery items (and other nice-to-haves) accessible to this demographic, they've launched two main initiatives. The first is opening more small convenience stores in dense urban areas. The second is expanding their delivery options.

That's where their relationship with Uber Eats comes in.

Uber Eats helps ASDA fulfil deliveries that come in from two main channels:

ASDA offers express delivery and same-day delivery powered by Uber Direct through the ASDA website. When customers select one of these options, ASDA often uses Uber drivers to fulfil the orders. From the customer's perspective, their ordering experience is entirely with ASDA itself, meaning the retailer owns the customer experience for these orders.

Customers who already have the Uber Eats app and want the fastest delivery option can find ASDA on the Uber Eats marketplace. This is where the quick commerce option comes into play. Customers place their order through the Uber app, and typically receive their ASDA items within 30–40 minutes. For ASDA, the Uber Eats marketplace can also help them reach new customers who started their search on the app, increasing their overall sales and customer base.