The multiple periods of confinement due to the covid-19 crisis have accelerated the development of click and collect. In the span of a few months, it has become an unavoidable order collection solution.
Click-and-collect sales in the United States increased by more than 100 percent during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and click-and-collect retail sales were expected to continue growing in the near future, albeit at a slower rate. This practice is now a permanent part of most people's consumption habits.
What is the principle of click and collect?
Click and collect works in a simple way: the consumer orders his product online and if it is available in-store he can then choose to come and collect his purchase directly from the retailer's outlet nearby.
Large retailers and small merchants now consider " click, call and collect" and e-reservation essential to respond correctly to their customers' needs and show resilience. With the click and collect service, consumers avoid delivery costs and retailers can optimize their flows.
Click and collect and drive, what are the differences?
If click and collect allows the customer to come and pick up his order by foot directly in the store, the drive is different because the customer picks up his products by car in the store's parking lot provided for this purpose.
What are the advantages of click and collect?
1. Customer experience: adapting to customers and improving service quality
According to a study conducted by Walker, 62% of companies have decided to invest in customer experience, a figure that is explained by the fact that two-thirds of companies compete primarily on the basis of customer experience.
This is a concern that is expected to grow as customer experience is poised to overtake price and product features as the primary differentiator for brands.
If customer experience has taken such a place in the hearts of retailers, it is because it has a direct impact on the company's sales and revenue. 91% of customers dissatisfied with their shopping experience will not buy from the same retailer again (source: Livework studio).
A loss to which must be added the costs of customer complaints. Companies have understood that in order to stay healthy, it is better to opt for a memorable customer experience.
But what factors influence the customer experience?
They are numerous and can be distinguished according to two types:
- Controllable elements (price, labeling, product presentation...),
- Uncontrollable facts (weather, customer's personal situation, seasonality...).
If it becomes difficult to act on the imponderables, everything that can be optimized in order to contribute to the improvement of the customer experience must be put in place to allow companies to best meet consumer needs.
In Baymard Institute's latest 2022 study, 48% of shoppers abandoned their online purchases during the checkout process because of extra costs for shipping, tax, or because the fees were too high. Thus setting up click and collect can secure the purchase of your customers by avoiding the delivery expenses.
Some of the benefits of click and collect include:
A unique online ordering and in-store pickup experience
As a result of a beneficial synergy between the digital channel (online sales) and the physical channel (stores), the customer benefits from the perfect combo between the speed and convenience of the online journey (including on social networks with an integrated catalog) and the proximity of the physical point. In other words, it allows the customer to reserve products in store in a few clicks without having to do away with physical interaction at the store.
Once the consumer has placed his order online, he only has to go and pick up his purchases in the store, thus avoiding:
- Wasting time (difficulty in finding a product on the shelf)
- Queues or crowded shopping areas
- Product unavailability problems thanks to real-time access to stock status
The quality of service is optimized (reduction of delivery times compared to a traditional delivery service).
The consumer making his purchase online is freed from the costs of delivery and the constraints related to the wait. No more standing around for half a day waiting for the letter carrier to call you so you can receive your purchase. Customers decide when to pick up their parcels. They no longer organize their schedule according to the delivery man and above all they avoid the pitfalls of delivery:
- Delivery notice
- Absence from home
- Parcel returned to the sender
- Damaged purchases ...
2. Economic: boost sales and reduce delivery costs
Offering click and collect increases the efficiency of sales channels while reducing costs for the consumer:
- By offering to order via the online stores, including online payment, and and giving the option to pick up purchases in store, retailers can significantly increase the number of product references as well as rely on the availability of products on the website and in physical stores.
Store inventory turns and management is improved.
- Cheaper than delivery, and more convenient than in-store shopping, retailers who offer click and collect have a better chance of attracting customers.
- The products are available quickly at local shops for the greatest happiness of the customers. A major competitive advantage for retailers!
- The drive boosts cross-selling, according to Fevad (2019), 28% of e-buyers took advantage of the pickup of an order to buy other products at the store or collect point.
- The reduction in transportation costs that fall on the company compared to delivery has a positive impact on prices.
- Click and collect makes the retail points autonomous in the management of shipments. The work of the sales staff is facilitated.
Click and collect is an essential means to boost omnichannel sales. It allows you to meet customers' needs in terms of immediacy, price, and convenience while also indirectly improving the profitability of your stores by allowing them to stand out positively from the competition. Allowing customers to pick up their order in store will create an additional flow and thus feed your Drive to Store strategy which consists in bringing your consumers to physical points of sale in order to increase the average basket.
Indeed, the click and collect option gives an advantage over pure players, by relying on a network of physical stores to make a quick pick-up possible while also providing customers with personalized advice.
Woop's advice for deploying click and collect
Click and collect requires an efficient logistical organization, including optimal inventory management, fast order preparation, and smooth customer pick-up to optimize the efficiency of in-store teams as well as the customer experience.
Woop offers a unified Delivery Management System (DMS) to facilitate the deployment of a collection solution such as click and Collect. This system orchestrate and optimize last mile deliveries.
The Woop platform also makes it easy to book the proposed collection slots when finalizing the order on the website when the customer chooses click and collect as a delivery option.
Want to know more about how Woop can help you set up a click and Collect solution?
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