Asda’s long-running IT overhaul was meant to future-proof the business. But the delays to Project Future and the challenge of untangling more than 2,500 legacy systems have exposed how hard digital change really is at scale. The project has been plagued by execution glitches and cost overruns that have weakened the retailer’s immediate operational resilience.
In grocery, digital is no longer a support function. It underpins availability, loyalty, convenience and trust. And if it fails, the impact is immediate and visible to customers. And Asda’s recent digital issues are a perfect example of that issue. You can’t fault the ambition, but without clear strategy and good execution, the brand reputation is at risk, writes Rich Logan, Principal Digital Strategist at MSQ DX UK.
Digital resilience isn’t about keeping systems ticking over. It’s about building a platform that lets the business move faster, serve customers better and adapt under pressure.
Digital as a growth engine
For modern grocers, digital is a driver of growth. And brands are investing heavily. Tesco has signed a three-year partnership with Mistral AI to improve internal processes and support more personalised promotions for customers. Co-op is rolling out electronic shelf labels across around 1,500 stores, enabling faster price changes and reducing the need for paper labels. Waitrose has been trialling smart shopping trolleys that automatically track items and show a running total.
It’s not about adding features for the sake of it. Digital investment must enhance experience, protecting margins, reducing friction and building much needed brand loyalty. At the same time, fragmented platforms and ageing infrastructure can slow everything down. Innovation stalls, costs rise and teams spend more time firefighting than improving the customer journey.
In an industry with paper-thin margins that’s unsustainable. And if other brands don’t adapt, the gap between leaders and laggards will widen. Asda’s issues highlight the importance of avoiding this setback. It’s not down to technology choices, but the fortitude of the digital backbone underneath them.
Loyalty is built on experience
Today’s shoppers expect grocery to work seamlessly across all interfaces. Whether you open an app, visit a website or walk into a store, customers expect a smooth and easy experience. And they don’t distinguish between channels either. So for customers, it’s one brand. If journeys are clunky or inconsistent across any touchpoint, they switch over to a competitor.
All this means personalisation is now table stakes. Generic digital experiences feel out of step with expectations set by digital-first players. Closing that gap requires better use of data, clearer journeys and fewer handoffs between systems, while adopting new technologies to help process this data.
But that requires caution too. AI, automation and optimisation tools promise to provide rapid gains, but they only deliver when the basics are right. This means content must be coherent, data accessible, and teams aligned around shared outcomes of what they want to achieve.
Without this foundation, digital programmes slow down, overrun or fail to scale. This might’ve contributed to Asda’s challenges, but it doesn’t mean the company is doomed on digital.
Like every grocer, Asda must ask the important questions about its digital strategy to ensure the successful transformations. What problem are we solving for customers, and how will it drive commercial return?
For UK supermarkets, answering that question is the first step. It helps unlock the ability to correctly simplify platforms, align brand and UX, and begin embedding a culture of test and learn to help teams move faster with confidence.
The digital moment
Looking into the new year, it’s clear that for Asda and all UK supermarkets, grocery is entering a new phase. And it’s exciting times with the prospect of offering a completely revolutionised shopping experience. At the same time, cost pressures remain intense, customer expectations are rising, and loyalty is increasingly won or lost through experience.
Asda’s challenges in 2025 highlighted a wider truth. Namely, digital transformation can’t be slow or half-finished. It must be treated as a business-wide priority, backed from the top and focused entirely on the customer, in store and online.
In UK grocery, the next chapter will be written by the retailers that fix their digital foundations first. Those that get it right will be best placed to unlock growth and build customer loyalty for life.
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