Customers who place orders with Asda via safe shopping online will now be able to take advantage of a new automated click and collect service which is effectively a self-service vending machine, according to Retail Gazette.

The device has been tested out in America already and has now arrived in one UK store in Manchester, making the supermarket’s e-commerce delivery options even more flexible without increasing pressure on its staff.

Standing several metres tall, this towering container can be loaded up with around 500 packages and is not only designed to provide click and collect capabilities, but also means that customers can return items ordered via safe shopping online which are faulty or not what they were expecting.

In the short term, it will only be possible to order products from the George fashion label for collection from this machine, although in the future it is likely that the range of eligible items will be expanded to cope with demand.

It takes around a minute for the parcels to be dispensed to waiting customers, with a smartphone-based barcode system ensuring that orders can easily be identified.

Asda is also partnering with third party retailers, including clothing site Asos, to offer click and collect services in combination with this machine.

Company spokesperson, Neil Drake, said that this technology would not only cut waiting times for customers who want to use click and collect to pick up online orders, but could also save them money by giving them access to exclusive online offers available the same day.

1500 people have made use of this machine in the few weeks since it was originally installed and it could soon become a common site at Asda stores across the country, replicating the capabilities of Amazon’s collection lockers but on a larger scale.