The fantastic growth of Click & Collect

What is Click & Collect and how does it work?

The Click & Collect model is a multi-channel retail strategy where online customers can purchase online and pick up in store.

Customers browse and select the items they would like to purchase, and instead of having them delivered at home a few days later, they go and collect them from the store directly. The goods are ready for them to pick up, making it very easy and convenient.

Some retailers even offer the option to collect from other places than their store, such as the post office, the grocery store, lockers, or even train station news stand.

Who offers Click & Collect to their customers?

Initially mostly leveraged in the grocery shopping business, the model now expands to almost every industry, allowing you to purchase online and collect in store almost anything. From Ikea to Walmart, from Marks & Spencer to Zara, most retailers have been offering this convenient eCommerce model.

Even companies such as Tiffany’s have offered curbside pick-up during the the first lock-down, and believe it or not Ford now allows their customers to purchase online and pick up their car in their favorite location.

Why is it gaining so much traction?

While the concept is not new, it has been around for over 10 years, it has gained a lot of traction during the pandemic as customers were looking for alternative shopping options, and retailers critically needed to continue selling with their stores closed. The Click & Collect model offered a safe and compelling way to keep doing business.

Convenience

Before the pandemic the model was already gaining traction though, as it provides the most sought-after attribute in today’s digital world: convenience.

Even more than price, or brand consideration, convenience is becoming the number one driver for purchases. The rise of the ROPO effect (Research Online, Purchase Offline) contributes to the customer’s behavioral changes. They are better informed than ever on products and their alternatives, requiring brands to offer offer an easy path to information, comparison, and purchase, at anytime, anywhere, and on the customer’s schedule and preferences. Furthermore, customers’ expectations have expanded, and the path to returns should also be equally convenient and straight forward.

Click & Collect is also usually faster than delivery, as you typically can pick up within a few minutes or hours. Ordering online and picking it up also guarantee that your trip to the store is successful, no more visit to the store to find out they ran out of the item you wanted.

Additionally, the Click & Collect model can be a good first step in eCommerce, enabling the retailer to sell online without having to invest in a fulfilment chain to prepare and ship all the parcels. During the pandemic, many eCommerce-sceptic brands decided to dip their feet in the water and test eCommerce through Click & Collect. Finally, the model is a great opportunity to cross-sell as once people come and pick up, they have a tendency to buy other items. 

Technology

Another key component driving the adoption of the Click & Collect model is the availability of technology on both customer and retailers’ sides. From a user perspective, it has never been so easy to order from large-screen mobile devices, in particular as most websites are at least responsive, if not designed for mobile. This empowers customers to place an order while on the go and pick it up whenever they would like to.

From the retailer’s standpoint, access to the technology empowering them to offer this model has never been so simple, they even have a variety of options to choose from. That is not to say that setting up Click & Collect’s complexity should be underestimated. Indeed, while the technology is readily available, it must come with a strategic approach to ensure its successful implementation.

How big has the Click & Collect model become?

According to eMarketer, Click & Collect sales doubled in 2020, and are expected to sustain double-digit growth through 2024.

In 2020, in the USA only, the model drove $72.5 Billion in sales, which represents 9.1% of eCommerce sales. The share of Click & Collect grew by over 4%

How to get started with Click & Collect?

If you do not sell online currently , the first thing to do is to establish the customer journey for your target audience: Where do they read about you, how do they learn more about your product, how do they compare, select, and buy their items. You then will have to turn your website into an eCommerce site, enabling basics such as a cart function and payment processing for example. This also comes with the ability to manage your inventory digitally (and avoid selling something you ran out of).

If Click & Collect comes as an additional option to your eCommerce site, the first thing you want to do is to survey your existing eCommerce clients about offering such an option. This has two benefits: One they fill listened-to, and second, you might learn that they have no interest in that option, and thus save time and money. When you set it up, make sure it is evidently proposed for people to pick, you may want to do some A/B testing there.

These are just the first steps to your Click & Collect success. eCommerce is a vast and complex subject, in perpetual movement.

Get in touch with us if you are considering moving into that direction, we can help you design a compelling strategy and then get you up and running quickly and efficiently.

What is coming up next?

We expect to see the Click & Collect model continue to grow in importance and adoption across industries, even once the global pandemic situation resolves and the world enters the new post-pandemic normal. The convenience of the concept for both parties, the availability of the technology, and its applicability to virtually any product makes it extremely compelling.

Furthermore, as with many technologies, ancillary services have started to blossom around Click & Collect - you now have concierge services that go pick up your Click & Collect order if you are too busy for that, or offerings such as Olive which packages together your deliveries and returns alike, recycling your cardboard boxes and making the whole process even simpler for you.

Click & Collect is here to stay, and brands should take advantage of this convenient and attractive strategy.

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