Supermarket chain Asda is holding talks with food and drink businesses in a bid to solve a host of problems with its new supplier portal.

The grocery giant will consult with groups of suppliers in efforts to try and tackle complaints about the new system. One supplier has called the situation “an utter mess”.

The news comes as Asda is in the middle of trying to finish its Project Future separation from former owner Walmart.

Major issues have been reported with Asda’s move to its new ADR system, according to The Grocer, which replaced Walmart’s former Retail Link system and is used by its suppliers for forecasting, sales data and stock control issues.

Posting on LinkedIn, ex-Asda buyer Mervyn Jones, who runs a consultancy supporting businesses on how to use new systems, said: “ADR is so bad I don’t know where to start with it.

“I have a number of contacts within Asda. Some of them are telling me not to use Retail Link anymore and to move completely across to ADR. ADR, however, says to use Retail Link for historical data.”

He added: “Other contacts in Asda say to continue using Retail Link for forecasting and that ADR’s data is incomplete.

“It’s a mess. A complete and utter mess and the training Asda is offering online is not up to scratch.”

Speaking to The Grocer, another source said: “Moving to a new system at the same time as Asda is going through other major changes as a business was always a recipe for complexity.

“Suppliers rely on these systems for key information on stock movements, waste and stock control and historically Asda’s system has been top of the tree.

“That’s not the case anymore and suppliers are not getting the same speed of information. Data on products they use to get at the start of the day is now coming much later.

“To Asda’s credit, they are being transparent about these problems and talking to suppliers to try to tackle these issues, but at the moment it is causing a lot of issues.”

A company source informed the publication that the retailer was engaging with a group of suppliers as they move from Retail Link to the new supplier portal. 

They emphasised that Asda anticipated a “period of adjustment” and was actively working with suppliers to make sure they were supported during the period.

The source added that training and guidance materials were available to help the suppliers and the supermarket would welcome additional input on the new platform to improve its user experience. 

It comes after it was reported that Asda was nearing completion of its £1bn IT upgrade earlier this week, six months later than it previously planned.

Asda has been approached for comment.

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