Table of Contents
Click and collect is the new emerging e-commerce service that allows consumers to pick up their order from a nearby retailer. Here are 5 steps for how retailers can set up click and collect capabilities in less than an hour.
Click and Collect is a service that allows customers to pick up their purchase at the store. Although it’s not as popular as other services, such as Amazon Prime, it’s still worth looking into.
Click and collect is a retail fulfillment technique that enables customers to purchase items online and pick them up in store (or at another collection point). This hybrid ecommerce strategy, sometimes referred to as BOPIS (buy online, pick up in store), BOPAC (buy online, pick up at curbside), and curbside pickup, simplifies the trading process for both the merchant and the consumer.
Accepting online orders for in-store pickup is an efficient strategy for small merchants to raise sales and increase customer satisfaction by making it simpler for customers to purchase. It improves convenience, allows for safer transactions, and needs less manpower than conventional retail sales, all while reducing ecommerce order delivery time and shipping costs. Small enterprises as well as huge corporations may employ the click and collect concept.
This post will teach you all you need to know about generating click and collect work for your company.
How Does Click & Collect Work?
Customers utilize the service by making an order on the store’s website or via the store’s mobile app. Normally, their payment is handled when the order is placed, however some establishments allow customers to pay when they pick up their goods.
When the order is ready, store staff take the specified products from inventory, arrange them for pickup, and tell the client.
When the shopper is alerted, they go to the pick-up location and present the personnel their order confirmation. The consumer receives the bought things, and the transaction is complete.
Retailers may provide pickup at a variety of places, including in-store and curbside. In-store pickup is normally done at a centralized checkout, however many major firms drive consumers to a specialized BOPIS register to avoid long lineups.
Sellers without a permanent brick-and-mortar store may use lockers or pop-up stores to provide click-and-collect services.
What if I told you that
During the COVID-19 epidemic, the popularity of click and collect soared: shoppers spent $72.46 billion on click and collect items in 2020, up 106.9% from 2019.
Click and collect is one of the primary online choices supporting the expansion of fast-moving consumer products as safety worries fade.
Benefits of Click & Collect
Click and collect is used by retailers because it allows them to:
Fulfilling online orders allows you to make more money with your current retail resources.
Reduce your dependency on third-party vendors.
Visibility into the chain of custody and fulfillment flow at a high level
When compared to delivery, use less resources.
Allow consumers to enjoy their time in the business while avoiding unnecessary touch with other individuals.
Reduce the customer’s extra expenditures (such as shipping fees).
Using current resources, get started fast.
Allow clients to pick up their orders when it is convenient for them.
Here are some of the most important ways that click and collect may help you and your customers:
For both parties, this fulfillment method reduces the expense and trouble of shipping.
Customers may shop from anywhere by purchasing online, and in many instances, items can be picked up the same day, saving time and money over normal ecommerce delivery.
At the same time, merchants don’t have to worry about labor and delivery expenses eroding their profit margins. The cost of click and collect or curbside pickup is cheaper than the cost of packing and shipping orders or courier delivery.
Click and collect also protects things like flowers, fruit, and baked goods from damage or spoilage while in transit.
As previously said, the simplicity of click and collect may help companies grab more sales and create a more beneficial effect along the way. This enhanced purchasing experience is beneficial to both you and your consumers.
Furthermore, merchants gain from their consumers physically visiting the shop, since this may lead to extra impulsive purchases and upselling chances. According to Business Insider Intelligence, 85 percent of customers have made a second in-store purchase when picking up an online order, with 15 percent doing so “regularly.”
Customers who pick up their items in-store are more likely to return them since they are able to see the goods in person before taking them home.
Pinch Spice Market is a tiny company that mostly distributes its products online. When it realized that a part of local orders might be completed more reasonably than shipping through USPS, it launched curbside pickup. Because curbside pickup was so popular, the firm decided to follow Amazon’s lead and provide locker pickup as well.
Customers may make purchases online and pick them at their leisure thanks to Pinch Spice Market’s pickup lockers. (Image courtesy of Pinch Spice Market)
“This allowed us to continue our daily production and online order fulfillment because we weren’t rushing to meet customers outside as much,” says co-owner Meaghan Thomas. “While we were grateful for the business, it was difficult to manage when you’re just two people running a rapidly growing business.”
How To Set Up Click & Collect In Your Store
Launching click and collect is easy, affordable, and requires little operational adjustments.
A dedicated ordering system, space in your shop, defined processes, trained personnel, and feedback to fine-tune the process are all required to set up click and collect.
Here’s how to accomplish it in five easy steps:
Create a System for Ordering
To accept orders, most merchants develop an online shop, a website, or a branded app. Some companies prefer to take orders over the phone.
To get online fast, you can utilize a third-party program like Postmates, although this is more prevalent at restaurants and cafés.
The ideal approach for retail clients to purchase online is usually via a website or a branded mobile app. It may be advantageous to create an online business and allow in-store pickup as a delivery option if you wish to provide click and collect purchases. The majority of prominent ecommerce systems and website builders, such as Shopify and Square Online, provide capabilities that allow you to add an in-store pickup option to the checkout page.
In the product description page of Square Online, companies may include pickup and delivery instructions. (Image courtesy of Square)
Square Online is the quickest and most cost-effective option to take your company online for click-and-collect orders. Square Online provides a free online shop and checkout page where you may list things for sale and let buyers pick their preferred method of delivery.
It lets you personalize features such as curbside pickup, defined pickup hours and order windows, order prep periods, order-ready customer alerts, and whether or not shoppers may arrange pickup times.
Shopify is your best choice if you want a more powerful ecommerce solution. It came out on top in our rankings of the finest ecommerce platforms and multichannel POS systems.
Create an internal procedure.
Establish a mechanism for handling orders and informing clients about how to pick up their items once your website is ready to accept orders.
Establish explicit expectations for order processing and return timeframes, as well as pickup deadlines and detailed pickup instructions. Will the customer’s order, for example, be waiting for them in a display case? Should they go up to the register and offer their name or email confirmation? Is there a parking place reserved for me?
Before the shop shuts for the day, Square Online allows companies to establish preparation hours, activate scheduled pickup times, and automatically disable online orders. (Image courtesy of Square)
Tip: If you sell clothing, cosmetics, or other things with a high return rate, encourage clients to try on their purchases before leaving if you can offer a safe environment for both customers and personnel.
When a consumer exchanges a product before leaving the shop, the likelihood of being able to replenish the item improves.
Set aside a certain amount of space in your store.
After you’ve selected how you’ll receive and fulfill orders, you’ll need to choose a location where you’ll keep them until they’re picked up.
You’ll want to choose a location that’s both accessible and secure for your staff. This might be in a dedicated space in the back room or behind your checkout counter.
Don’t forget about your sales floor if you opt to hold pickup orders in an inventory room or back office. When there are unattended consumers, you don’t want staff to be too busy picking up curbside orders from the rear. This lengthens the time it takes to assist each client, which is inefficient for high-volume organizations.
Make a procedure for picking up your items.
Determine how customers will receive pickup orders after you’ve chosen a storage place for them.
If your business is busy, having a separate queue for pickups at the checkout counter—or even doing everything curbside—might be the most effective solution. If you have a small business or just a few workers on duty at any one moment, however, order pickups may be best integrated into the usual checkout queue.
Whatever you choose, utilize clear signage to direct clients to where they should go and what they should do, as seen in the examples below.
BOPIS clients are directed to the frame counter by Michael’s display signage, which gets less traffic than the store’s main registers. (Photo courtesy of Fixtures Close Up)
Each Starbucks location has a dedicated mobile pickup area where customers may pick up their orders fast.
Curbside or in-store pickup?
Consider if you’ll provide curbside pickup once you’ve established a method for in-store pickup.
Before COVID-19, curbside pickup was on the increase, but it has skyrocketed since then. According to Shopify’s Market Insights team, 38% of all consumers want to continue utilizing curbside pickup. It has grown in popularity as a convenient choice for consumers on the move, people with mobility challenges, and those who prefer not to enter the store.
Curbside pickup is a variation of the click and collect fulfillment technique in which customers get their goods without having to leave their car. An assistant will usually bring the things out and offer them to the client or set them in the car for a contactless exchange.
If you opt to provide curbside pickup, specify how customers should contact you when they arrive on your digital receipts and checkout page. Customers are preferred to call most small firms. You could choose a live-chat system built within your POS software, or even a tool like Facebook Messenger.
Pick-up Procedures
To make your procedures function, you’ll need to develop regulations for employees and consumers alike, in addition to the practicalities of physically providing customers their purchases.
- Time for processing and turnaround: How long does it take to choose and package an online purchase so that it can be picked up? Who will be in charge of receiving and assembling these orders?
- Order-ahead Time Limits: How long in advance may clients place a pickup order? Consider how orders that have been paid for but not yet received may affect your inventory management process.
- Customers are likely to pay for orders as they are placed online, so marking them as complete is a good idea. You’ll need to find out how to indicate when a client has collected a paid order in your POS system. Creating a uniform method will reduce staff misunderstanding.
Businesses may label orders as “Available” to alert consumers that their purchases are ready for pickup, and “Complete” after the client has picked up their things in Square Online’s free online shop.
- Unclaimed Orders: Make a strategy for reminding clients to pick up orders and storing unclaimed goods. Determine if you’ll reimburse the shopper or repackage the purchase whenever your consumer is ready to pick it up for unclaimed orders. Some repair firms, for example, would consider objects that have been left unattended for more than 60 days to be abandoned. Whatever your policy is, make sure customers are aware of it so they know what to anticipate.
- Customer Notifications: How will you notify clients when their orders are available or if their order has changed? Collect various contact methods from each consumer, such as an email address and a phone number, so you have additional ways to contact them. If you utilize a POS and online buying system like Square or Shopify that can monitor clients automatically, this procedure will be a lot simpler.
Shopify includes customer notification settings expressly for store pickups, in addition to notification options for order confirmations, order modifications, refunds, shipping, and delivery.
Educate Your Employees
Hold a training session with your workers now that you’ve built an orderly system for collecting, handling, and passing off click and collect orders.
Run through the procedures with them a few times to ensure that they are comfortable and educated about all of the steps—and be sure to address any concerns they may have.
Store staff will be able to provide comments and changes to make the process quicker and more efficient since they are on the front lines of your company and are in direct contact with your consumers.
Gather Customer & Employee Feedback
Gather input from consumers and workers after adopting click and collect orders to assist fine-tune the process.
Because customers are more likely to offer honest feedback, post-purchase email surveys are one of the finest methods to obtain consumer feedback (rather than conversing in person or waiting for social evaluations).
The Future of Click & Collect
Click and collect trends demonstrate that the hybrid fulfillment model is here to stay as the global retail ecommerce industry grows. It is projected that it presently accounts for 10.6% of total US ecommerce sales, and that percentage is expected to continue to rise.
BOPIS, click-and-collect, and curbside pickup are all options.
BOPIS, click-and-collect, and curbside pickup are all options. generated $83.47 billion in retail sales last year—and that figure is expected to grow by 21% in 2022. Stable growth is projected for the following years, as well.
Although it gained popularity during the unusual retail environment caused by COVID-19, click and collect is still popular when customers return to their usual habits. According to a recent Numerator poll, two-thirds of buyers who tried click and collect for the first time during the epidemic want to do so again after COVID.
This makes it a critical alternative for merchants to provide in order to appeal to current customers and remain competitive.
Conclusion
Implementing this technique of fulfillment is a terrific approach for small companies to enhance income and customer happiness as the trend of click and collect and curbside pickup continues to rise significantly.
Consumers are interested in click and collect, according to the research, and it’s up to small enterprises to take advantage of the chance. Shopify and Square, for example, provide built-in capabilities that let you to handle all of your online and in-store orders in one location, including click-and-collect possibilities.
If your shop doesn’t have a website, Square Online will help you create one for free in just a few minutes. To begin taking online orders now, list your items, activate Square Payments, and establish your order pick-up options.
Square should be visited.
You Might Also Enjoy…
The “how to start an online ordering business” is a guide on how to set up Click and Collect in 5 steps.
Related Tags
- click and collect platform
- click build collect
- click build collect login
- how to start an online store
