Connecting teams in all Asda superstores across the UK
Asda is perhaps the UK’s best known retailer. Since it was founded in 1949, it has grown into one of the country’s top 3 supermarket chains. Today, it employs 145,000 people across 633 locations.
The company is famous for its dedication to improving the customer experience, and for its commitment to colleague welfare. This chimes with our own mission statement, making it a dream partner for us to work with.
Covering large stores to find stock or colleagues can be time consuming, and instant communication has improved this for colleagues.
Internal collaboration improved through the ease of communication using the Headsets.
Enabling direct communication from Headsets to checkout staff without breaking customer communication.
VoCoVo first met with Asda at a retail trade show in 2017. After this, we were approached to address a number of communication challenges.
Asda wanted to harness new technology to bring together till and shop floor colleagues. They were keen to innovate, requesting a scalable, future-proof solution that allowed colleagues to collaborate more effectively and improve customer service.
The devices needed to be robust, so they could stand up to the daily demands of retail life. Asda wanted to ensure colleagues didn’t waste time or energy when handling queries. This meant improving colleague communication, to support customer service and wellbeing on the shop floor.
The solution needed to enable colleagues to talk collaboratively or 1:1, and be able to send instant tailored notifications from the tills to front line colleagues, without breaking customer communication.
In order to achieve this, our solution had to meet a number of criteria:
VoCoVo’s dedicated teams managed the project from proof of concept through to rollout. Our ecosystem was initially trialled across 20 stores, before being applied to 375 superstores across the UK. Asda were impressed with the unique flexible quality of the VoCoVo ecosystem, and its ability to save time and support colleagues at the checkout.
The ecosystem met their objectives and colleague feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Asda selected a carefully planned out combination of headsets for the front end service team, and 2 way keypads for till members.
The new ecosystem in Asda superstores created instant improvements in customer service and colleague experience; reducing colleague and customer wait times and improving till efficiency. It proved so successful that Asda is now extending VoCoVo to a further 20 supermarket stores, to support with both efficiency and colleague communication.
“VoCoVo are committed, even with the speed in which their business is growing. We have dedicated colleagues on the account who are always available to provide support, where required. VoCoVo are very much part of our business strategy and we will be actively looking at the opportunities to expand to further areas.”
Stuart Peel
After installation, the feedback from Asda colleagues was very positive.
Our Headsets and Keypads had an instant impact on colleague connectivity. The Keypads at checkouts provided till colleagues with instant support, without breaking customer service. This proved very helpful during busy periods, and saved time whilst reducing announcement noise in store.
Till colleagues could send a range of targeted messages, or use back-and-forth communication, meaning front of store colleagues could support quickly and smoothly. The 2-way talk facility allows the checkout operator to discuss the query if more detail is needed.
By having Headsets across the front of the store, colleagues could now also communicate as a group, saving time and allowing for knowledge sharing. This had a big impact on colleague training and customer service, allowing the team to pull together when necessary.
Asda has identified the front end solution as phase one, and intends to roll out the solution across other stores. Asda are delighted with the solution, and the service they’ve received from our dedicated team. Asda hold VoCoVo as part of their business strategy for the future, as they look to expand further.
