It Asda be Direct! (direct.asda.com)

Member Name: jo1976

Product:	direct.asda.com
Date:	03/11/08 (813 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: George clothing available to order online

Disadvantages: Limited range of clothes available. Sizes sold out frequently.

Although Asda have been offering an online grocery service at Asda.com for some time, I only recently became aware of the new Asda Direct site offering a wider range of Asda products to order online. The site is split into different sections including:

George Clothing
Homeware
Furniture
Electrical Items
Toys
Babyshop
DIY & Motor
Sports & Leisure
Gifts & Jewellery

I found out about Asda Direct when I heard that Asda were selling a ladies' winter coat for just £15! Apparently, it had been featured on This Morning and in one of the Sunday supplements as a 'best buy.' Having been on the look-out for a cheap new coat for a while, this sounded ideal to me. Unfortunately, I don't have an Asda store locally and would have had to make a thirty mile round trip on the off-chance that my 'local' store had any size 12 coats in stock. I was very pleased when I discovered that this particular coat was available online through the George section of the new Asda Direct site. (This was the only section of the site that I visited, so this review is mainly limited to the clothing section of Asda Direct.)

I had to register as a new customer on the Asda Direct site, even though I was previously registered on Asda.com for online groceries. This was quick and painless and just involved selecting a password and giving name and address details. Once I'd registered I added the coat to my virtual basket. It was a pleasant surprise when I discovered that they still had my size in stock! As there is a standard delivery charge of £3.95 for all orders of clothing, I decided to have a look around the rest of the George section and see if I could find any more bargains.

I have to admit, I was slightly disappointed by the range of the clothing available to order online. On the few occasions that I've shopped instore at Asda, I've always been impressed with the clothing selection. I like George clothes, particularly childrenswear as they wash well and stay in good condition and are good value in terms of price too. I browsed through the chilldrenswear section but found very few lines available. The clothing available was, as always, very reasonably priced but there wasn't a great deal of choice at all. When I did find some tops that would have been ideal for my youngest son, his size was sold out. There wasn't a great deal to inspire in womenswear either and, again, lots of items were sold out in my size.

I did end up adding a few extras to my order though. I bought some socks for my oldest son at 7 pairs for £5 which seemed good value to me. You can never have too many socks, as socks just seem to vanish in our house! I also bought two tops for my oldest and two for myself. The whole order, including p&p, only came to £35.70! This seemed fantastic value to me when you remember that that includes a winter coat!

I didn't get the chance to browse round the rest of the site, other than the George clothing section. I did notice that postage charges are slightly higher for items other than clothing. Small and medium sized items cost £4.95 per order and large items cost £18.95 (!!!). If you buy different sized items and items from different sections, you only pay one p&p charge (whichever is the highest.) So, for example, if you bought several clothing items and then added a lamp to your order you would pay the £4.95 fee.

I was quite impressed with the speed of delivery. I placed my order on the Friday and it was delivered on the Wednesday, so it took just three working days. The clothes were delivered in a massive box though which seemed a bit excessive compared to the size of the order and had me wondering what it could be when it was first delivered!

As for the quality of the items, I am pretty happy overall. The kids' clothes are fine. I'm not so keen on the tops I ordered for myself and probably wouldn't have bought them if I'd seen them instore but that's one of the drawbacks to internet shopping. (If I did want to return them I could either post them back at my own cost or take them to an Asda store for a refund or exchange.) The bargain £15 coat is a real bargain. It's certainly not the thickest of winter coats and a button has dropped off one of the pockets already, but it's still excellent value for the price I paid. (Edit May 2009: The coat didn't last that long in the end! You get what you pay for, I suppose.)

I did have to contact Asda Direct customer helpline as the advice note included with my order had mispriced the bargain coat and had it listed at £18.95. The helpline is an 0844 (local rate) number, rather than a freephone number which is a bit disappointing. The advisor that I spoke to was helpful, however, and reassured me that the advice note was incorrect and I had only been charged the amount shown on my original order (and as detailed on my email confirmation.) He did recommend that I checked my bank statement and contact the helpline again if I had, in fact, been wrongly charged.

All in all, my experience with Asda Direct was a positive one. My only major criticism would be that the range of stock available in the clothing section is very limited and many items seem to be out of stock in popular sizes. I would still consider using the site again in future and I suspect that it will grow into a site that will be able to take on the giant that is Tesco Direct, before too long.

Summary: Definitely one to consider.