Asda opens it’s first cash & carry style store: The Deal Depot
The Deal Depot is a 20,000 sq ft annex to Asda’s massive Patchway store. It has a separate entrance and exit and there is no Asda branding, with staff in Deal Depot uniforms. The store is open to the general public and customers are not required to sign in or pay a membership fee. Shoppers use a scan and go app to add items to their trolleys as they go and pay by card only at the four checkouts.
As you enter you are met with a help desk manned with staff explaining how the concept works.
In the original brief for the ‘Patchway Project’ Asda said the range would consist of imported products from US members’ warehouse chain Sam’s Club, also owned by Walmart, and other “everyday essentials” in big pack sizes. The current 450-strong range has a much greater focus on key brands across BWS, soft drinks, snacks and confectionery by the case, plus bulk packs of both branded and tertiary lines across dry grocery and house-hold and personal care. There is also a frozen and chilled section as well as an aisle for fresh produce in regular retail pack sizes.
It was easy see why Asda was keen to open it before Christmas, to tap into families looking to cut their spend over the festive period. It will be interesting to see if the planned evolution in January targets businesses more directly.
Based on how the store looked this week, Asda is targeting Aldi, Lidl and the variety dis-counters, rather than cash & carry specialists, as a number of factors that would be important to independent retailers are missing.
There were no price-marked packs, prices were not displayed ex VAT and it did not offer VAT invoices. The trolleys were big but not cash & carry size. It would be tricky for retailers or caterers to fill up one a van as they might in a typical cash & carry visit. Operators shopping here are more likely to be on an emergency top-up mission than a planned restock.
One leading cash & carry boss confirms the pricing is largely in line with wholesale prices.
