Click and Collect Gains Momentum
Posted by John PrendergastJohn Lewis is the latest online retailer to jump on the “click and collect” trend. They are trialling a service which will allow shoppers to order goods online at JohnLewis.com and then go and pick them up at a store. The twist in the tail on this one is John Lewis only has 26 outlets which is quite limiting, so they have decided to include their Waitrose’s supermarkets as collection points. This will extend their reach giving them an additional 213 collection points that are widely distributed. The Waitrose collection points concept is being trialled in Hexham and Tonbridge.
Click and collect services, where goods are ordered online and picked up from a store, are one of the fastest-growing trends among internet retailers. Argos last week reported its Click & Reserve service was up 45% on last year and is responsible for 17% of all sales. Halfords.com were another early mover and their reserve and collect service has driven an increase in multichannel sales of 90% in the year to April 2009, having passed the million customer mark.
This trend makes huge sense for the consumer and the retailer. The consumer doesn’t have to wander round the shop or queue endlessly for checkouts, but can select goods from a reputable brand at their leisure online. For the retailer the upside is this makes the nightmare of shipping goods to individual homes (and trying to find people when they are at home) go away. Indications are that these multichannel approaches also drive more people to the store (above and beyond the online purchasers). Nevertheless, it’s not all easy - it requires accurate realtime stock levels and a slick customer experience both on and off-line to succeed.
