Asda is trialling delivering unattended food orders, allowing drivers to drop off customers’ shopping when no one is home.
The trial allows shopping to be delivered within a four-hour window when the customer is out by dropping it into boxes fixed outside the shopper’s home.
It comes as supermarkets aim to sustain the momentum in online shopping as the UK emerges from coronavirus restrictions.
Drivers enter a one-time code allowing them access to the box to make a single delivery, which can include chilled and frozen items, before locking it until the customer arrives home.
Asda said the trial is focused on a few locations in Yorkshire, the North East, Wales and the South, and includes two box sizes allowing delivery of up to four or six bags of shopping.
Simon Gregg, vice president of online grocery at Asda, said: “We are pleased to be trialling an unattended delivery service as we continue to innovate and learn from new initiatives to help enhance our grocery home shopping offer.
“As things begin to open up again, the boxes provide a convenient way for customers involved in the trial to take delivery of their regular shop while they are not at home.”
Asda customers taking part in the trial were advised to remove chilled and frozen items from the box after four hours from when they were dropped off.
Insulating materials are used to maintain the correct temperatures when shopping is placed in the box and to insure items are unaffected by hot or cold weather.
