Click and Collect a potential growth area for eCommerce

Back in December 2010 you may remember we had some really bad weather. This led to delays in the delivery of items bought online, in many cases meaning deliveries were not there before Christmas.

For Christmas 2011, to deal with possible late delivery concerns, many eCommerce sites offered “collect at store” as a delivery option. I’ve always wondered why this has never taken off in a bigger way. This view was less based on the weather concerns but more on my own experience, and anecdotal evidence, of deliveries arriving when I wasn’t at home. Why don’t we have collection points in every High Street in the country? Surely the demand must be there.

I was reminded of this by Verdict Research, part of the DataMonitor Group. They have just sent me an email promoting a research report entitled “Collection Point Strategies in European Retail”. Their research shows that 20% of consumers do not shop online because they are concerned about the security of the mailing system. They list a number of issues surrounding this:

• ordered items can often be difficult to track while in transit
• packages getting lost in the post
• failed delivery  

There are two options. Delivery to the customer's chosen store or a click and collect option at a convenient collection point.  The advantage from a consumers perspective is that they have access to store personnel when picking up their products. This means they will be able to get immediate support if their goods don’t arrive or are damaged.

From a retailers point of view there are also benefits. The click and collect option enables them to target customers who are worried about the security of their package. It’s also more secure than leaving it with a neighbour.

What are the click and collect options? Verdict Research suggest local post offices, as well as lockable boxes situated in train stations, such as DHL's Packstations in Germany and Royal Mail's iBoxes in the UK. These latter two have the advantage of being accessible outside of normal delivery hours.

Time to start thinking about click and collect. There are customers out there for this type of service. The Verdict Research report costs $2795 but it may just be an investment worth making. View content summary here Collection Point Strategies in European Retail