UK consumers increasingly expect faster fulfilment through retailers’ click-and-collect services, with demand for express in-store collections driven by Millennials, the latest data from OneStock, the modern and agile Order Management System (OMS) provider for omnichannel retail, reveals.
Original research of over 2,000 UK shoppers in OneStock’s latest report revealed that 57% now want retailers to offer faster click-and-collect fulfilment services, rising to 68% of 25-34 year olds.
With click-and-collect growing exponentially during the pandemic and sustained demand expected to continue, now almost half (49%) of UK shoppers expect retailers to offer in-store collections within 1 hour, rising to over two thirds (69%)of Millennials who now want to be able to pick up online orders in-store in under 60 minutes.
This has prompted many retailers, from pet care brand, Pets at Home, to fashion favourite, Hobbs, to optimise their click-and-collect offers and add fast-track services into fulfilment. Since launching express collections, for example, Pets at Home now puts 20% of all its online orders through its 1 Hour Click & Collect service.
And speedy service now isn’t just expected as ‘standard’; over half (51%) of UK shoppers expect to be rewarded for their loyalty with priority click-and-collect times, giving them express collections as perks within retailers’ loyalty schemes.
As well as fast click-and-collect, sustainability also now plays an important role in consumers’ fulfilment choices: 50% would be more likely to choose click-and-collect if they knew it was the most carbon efficient way of receiving their order. Younger demographics once again led the charge when it came to greener delivery options, with 62% saying they would switch to in-store collection if it proved the most environmentally friendly fulfilment method, while 48% would be happy to pay a premium to offset their carbon emissions on click-and-collect orders.
And with 44% of UK shoppers buying additional items when going in-store to pick up online orders, retailers must focus on building in speed and sustainability into their click-and-collect offer so they can benefit from the ambient footfall and sales opportunities it presents, as Romulus Grigoras, Founder and CEO at OneStock, explained:
“Shoppers have always enjoyed the convenience of click-and-collect, but now their demands around the speed of retailers’ fulfilment capabilities are accelerating. By removing silos within the inventory pool, and unifying stock so that it can be picked from any channel, retailers can extend available ranging whilst improving how quickly online orders are available for click-and-collect. And, by orchestrating the most efficient route to get that order to the collection point, retailers can improve operational efficiencies associated with the delivery, as well as reducing carbon emissions to meet the green needs of shoppers.”
For further information on how retailers can unify stock to improve conversions and sales whilst driving operational efficiency, download the report: Omnichannel study: How retailers can serve the post-Covid shopper.
