#DigiTrends | Click and Collect

Trend : Elevated Convenience

Retailers that can expect to win in the next decade will either maximize or enhance customers’ time. With click and collect, retailers have delivered on the promise of efficiency. For example, Walmart’s curbside grocery delivery service has been celebrated for saving its regular shoppers the equivalent of four days per year. Now, click and collect services are looking to build on the promise of speed and convenience by creating new opportunities to enhance the customer pick-up experience and time spent within their stores and fulfillment destinations. To achieve this, retailers are optimizing their backend systems to free up their employee’s time, which can be focused on customer-facing interactions like product support and onboarding. In addition, Click and Collect dedicated stores are rethinking how they add value through complementary merchandising and related services that add value around the core product experience

Industry Insights

1. Adoption of BOPIS is expected to grow from 44% in 2016 to 90% by 2024.
2. According to Adobe, BOPIS usage during this year’s Cyber Week grew 47.8% year-over-year, while consumers were 20% more likely to shop with retailers that offered BOPIS than those who didn’t.
3. 9 in 10 women "sometimes or always" make extra purchases when they are in a physical store.
4. 60% of Gen Z consumers polled said the availability of automated pickup lockers affected which retailers they chose to buy from.
5. Just 3% of shoppers browsing products online make purchases, whereas the browse-to-purchase conversion rate can be as high as 60% in some physical stores.

Case Studies

Nordstrom Lets Customers Shop How They Want With BOPIS Perks

Nordstrom is testing how the Click and Collect model can better serve consumers while creating an alternative to today’s return epidemic. Testing a new initiative, the retailer converted its designated Click and Collect area, adding dressing rooms for customers picking up items to quickly try on their clothes, ultimately cutting down on the number of returns. After a successful launch in Los Angeles, Nordstrom has expanded its Nordstrom Local concept with the opening of two new stores in New York City. Relying on their local network of full-size stores for order fulfillment, the small, merchandise-free stores offer services such as online order pick-up, fast and easy returns, alterations, and styling, and Nordstrom found that customers who visit one spend 2.5 times more and account for 30% of its BOPIS orders.

Related Video: Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store Is Most Profitable Way to Sell, Jamie Nordstrom Says

Target’s New Inventory System Allows For Better In-Store Engagement

Big-box retailer Target is developing a new inventory planning and control system to support an optimal omnichannel experience for its customers. While its digital sales grew 31% in Q3, the bulk of its sales still happen in-store. By aligning its in-store and supply chain stock, Target is better able to deliver on its drive-up delivery and in-store pickup promise, while cutting down on time spent restocking shelves and excessive on-site product. After gaining back 40,000 to 45,000 productivity hours related to supply chain and stores last year alone, this new system promises to reduce manual hours among Target employees further, opening the retailer’s workforce up to more personal and engaging interactions with consumers.

JD.com Expands Its Retail Footprint, Promising 30 Minute Delivery

China’s JD.com is looking to improve the speed of its order fulfillment experience and aiming for turnaround times as short as 30 minutes (the average is two hours). By adding more brick-and-mortar stores to its supply chain, the online shopping giant is enabling 20,000 stores in 54 cities across China to make deliveries directly to customers via an AI algorithm that determines the closest JD.com warehouse, distribution center or retail location. By teaming up with offline channels like supermarkets, convenience stores and brick-and-mortar stores, the e-tailer has been able to all but eliminate the time goods spend going through traditional distribution channels.

What this means for Retailers ?

1. Go beyond convenience to design pick-up areas that customers want to spend time in. Consider how you merchandise the space, giving customers the second chance to experience and test out featured products.
2. Offer cross-sell and upsell opportunities by merchandising frequently purchased products and accessories alongside the pick-up counter.
3. Personalize the pick-up experience and save customers time by ‘bundling’ relevant add-ons and accessories tailored to what the customer has purchased and giving them the option to purchase them as part of the pick-up experience.
4. Consider how you can add further value to the pick-up experience. Leverage dedicated associates to offer one-on-one onboarding and support for Click and Collect users to tap into on the spot.
5. Find ways to entice Click and Collect customers to explore more of the store. Consider offering the opt-in messaging as a way to deliver in-store deals or market new or featured items within the store.