Truth: Click-and-collect is still not clicking
Click-and-collect is a powerful tool that drives traffic to store where customers can potentially be upsold when picking up their package.
A study by the American company Bell and Howell of 530 shoppers found that 49% of customers were likely to purchase an additional item when picking up their online order in-store.
Even so, too many retailers and brands don’t offer click-and-collect.
This is hard to understand. Click-and-collect is a basic omnichannel feature that everyone should offer today as the potential seen from a customer experience and upsales point of view is huge
Change management is the main blocker
“Compared to many other omnichannel features, click-and-collect is a relatively simple tool to implement seen from a technical point of view. But it affects the entire company, which is what is really keeping brands and retailers from implementing it”, Steffen Pilgaard explains.
of the retailers and brands still don’t offer click-and-collect
He continues:
“It is not about the investment but there is a big change management task as it can affect the store operations quite significantly.”
In order to make click-and-collect successful and give the customers the feeling of convenience you need to have the right processes, training, incentives and store layout in place. This involves a lot of people and not something that can be implemented overnight.
Collaborate with suppliers
To become a master of click-and-collect – and being able to offer fast delivery – companies must look at their supply chain.
How can they get products delivered efficiently and in a way that supports click-and-collect?
The time has come to change the way we get products delivered to the physical stores. Not just because of click-and-collect, but just as much because of the increasing expectation for same-day delivery.
Instead of everything being delivered to central stock and being shipped from the stock to the local stores, you can skip the central stock and deliver directly to the store, or you can ship from one store to another.
No matter what, you have to collaborate with your suppliers throughout the entire supply chain.
Bring click-and-collect into the open
It’s one thing to offer click-and-collect, it’s quite another to make sure that the service is visible.
Only half of the brands and retailers with click-and-collect promote it on the product page.
“Click-and-collect is an important factor when customers decide to purchase a product, and the product page plays a bigger role in today’s customer journey”, says Steffen Pilgaard.
Nordic weakness
Across countries, the implementation of click-and-collect has been inconsistent. Denmark is the country that comes closest to fulfilling the potential of the service, but the level is still far from good enough. 76% of retailers and brands offer click-and-collect but half do not communicate it on the product page.
The same goes for Norway and Sweden. Even fewer of the companies in these countries are able to experience the full value of their click-and-collect service.
Offer click-and-collect
Promote it on the product page
Offer click-and-collect
Promote it on the product page
Offer click and collect
Promote it on the product page
Ideas for strengthening your Click & Collect efforts:
- Optimise the store processes to make sure they are effective AND deliver a strong customer experience
- Look into performance and incentive models to make sure that the stores get the benefits
- Make sure that Click & Collect is clearly marked on your website AND on your product pages
- Make sure that you TELL and SHOW your customers where and when they can collect their products. Many companies don’t include specific information in confirmation emails or mark the pick-up spot clearly in their stores.
- Offer Click & Reserve (pay in store) too. Then customers can see or try the products, ask their questions, and you’ll lower the number of returns. As a retailer you can control the length of time that products are reserved, send text messages to nudge the customer, and get more customers in your stores.
- Consider partnering with collection services so you can offer more pick-up locations for customers.
