Are you unsure what omnichannel more specifically is and implies? Read here and get an in-depth answer to the question: what is omnichannel?
If you offer your customers Click and Collect, they have the opportunity to place an order on your webshop and pick it up in your physical store or showroom. This way, you merge your online and offline channels and give your customers a smooth shopping experience across your channels.
There is no doubt that various lockdowns due to COVID-19 have created an urgent need for Click and Collect, which has impacted the growing success of the concept. However, Click and Collect was also considered a valuable service before regulations on distance, masks, and lockdowns became a reality.
According to an e-Marketer survey from 2018, 81.4 percent of e-Commerce consumers surveyed worldwide ordered items online and picked them up at a physical store - a 30 percentage point increase from the previous year.
We can expect that Click and Collect will soon become an essential part of the "good customer experience". Several experts predict that Click and Collect will become a service consumers expect from retailers in the near future. Also, when rules on distance, masks, and lockdowns no longer apply.
Why are consumers crazy about Click and Collect?
For the most significant amount of respondents in the earlier-mentioned survey (almost 50 percent), the reason for selecting Click and Collect is to avoid shipping charges. Other studies show that the shipping fee is the number one reason customers decide to leave their basket. Customers do not want to pay to wait for an item.
The second-highest part of the respondents in the e-Marketer's survey (almost 45 percent) answered that they use the service to save time by not having to shop in a physical store. Today, customers often research a product online before visiting the store to purchase. Nothing will feel more frustrating than if it turns out that the product is sold out once they have taken the time to visit the store. In addition to minimizing costs and saving time, Click and Collect has consumer benefits such as eliminating the risk of delayed or lost deliveries and that it is no longer necessary to be at home all day to wait for a package.
Why should you consider Click & Collect?
We have clarified that Click and Collect help ensure that your customers get a good customer experience when shopping with you. However, it is not only your customers who can benefit from Click and Collect - you can as well.
e-Commercers often experience "the last mile" of the delivery process as problematic. The last mile usually involves many stops at different customers locations, where only one or two packages are delivered at a time. As consumption online has exploded, the cost and inefficiency of "the last mile" has only increased. Simultaneously, the consumers' expectations for fast and free delivery have only risen. With Click and Collect, you avoid the financial costs and dissatisfied customers, "the last mile" can entail.
Studies show that Click and Collect brings customers into your store and allows you to create additional sales. An analysis from the e-Commerce portal, Internet Retailing, shows that between 60 and 75 percent of Click and Collect customers end up adding extra items to their basket when they are in a store to pick up pre-ordered items.
Get the most value out of Click and Collect
It is worth considering implementing Click and Collect in your business, but how do you create the most value with the service.
1. Promote it
First of all you must promote your Click and Collect service to make sure that your customers know they have this delivery option. If your customers do not know you offer Click and Collect it is obviously not a service they are going to use.
When you promote your Click and Collect service you make existing and potential customers aware that they can now quickly and easily pick up their purchased items. You can promote Click and Collect by, for example, having a banner on the front page of your webshop. However, making Click and Collect appear as a clear delivery option on your product pages and at checkout is the most important.
2. Make sure the "in-store" experience is good
Often when customers choose Click and Collect as the method of delivery, it is to save time. Therefore, they will probably be highly dissatisfied if they arrive at your store and must spend a long time figuring out where they can pick up their purchased items. Make sure to clearly show where Click and Collect customers can pick up their purchased items. Create a system to ensure that the delivery of packages is fast and smooth. This way, you avoid a long queue of customers at your Click and Collect pick-up station.
3. Communicate
If you do not keep your customers up to date on their delivery when it is on the way and inform them where and when they can pick it up, they might end up feeling confused and insecure. They will get a lousy shopping experience which may result in them not returning to your business in the future.
When a customer has placed a Click and Collect order, you should send them an e-mail and possibly an SMS with an overview of the ordered items, a guide to where they can pick up their order, and in which particular time frame. In addition, you should regularly provide updates such as "now the order is packed" and (if it was not already in the store), "now the order has arrived at the store", and "now the order is ready to be picked up." Finally, it is essential to make the exact pick-up location and the last possible last pick-up date.
4. Keep track of your integrations
To succeed with Click and Collect, the integration between your POS, e-Commerce, and ERP must work optimally. With an e-Commerce platform integrated with your POS solution and ERP system, you create and maintain data in one place. This means that all your core data, e.g., product information, stock status, prices, item numbers, and customer information, are identical across your channels.
For example, the process of updating stock status and prices across your channels is automated, and your stock status and prices are updated in real-time. This way, you avoid selling a product to a customer on your webshop, which you later have to tell them that they cannot pick up in your store because it is sold out. Your customers will neither experience that they could have purchased an item cheaper when they come to pick up their Click and Collect order.
In Fiftytwo, we have delivered a fully integrated webshop with Click and Collect for the retail chain Fleggaard. You can read more about that here.
Get started!
Offering Click and Collect comes with several requirements for the organization and the IT systems. With 52eSELLER, you get a thoroughly tested solution with lots of functionality and an App.
Do you want to know more? Contact me and find out more about how we can help you succeed with Click and Collect.
