Data Show Success Of Click and Collect
Consultants at Kurt Salmon, part of Accenture Strategy, looked at data on buy online, pick-up in-store — also known as “click and collect,” during the kickoff of the holiday shopping season, and found “that this year retailers excelled in their ability to execute buy online, pick-up in-store on Black Friday, as well as upping their game when it comes to keeping their shipping promises on Cyber Monday.”
In a separate study, researchers at BIGresearch found that a large number of consumers this holiday shopping season were shopping online as well as in stores.
Regarding the methodology of the Kurt Salmon report, the firm said it placed orders with 137 retailers across different product segments on Cyber Monday as a way to gauge shipping and order accuracy as well as delivery costs.
Authors of the report said the topperforming retailers “fulfilled orders in an average of 1.8 days” and included AutoZone, CVS, Office Depot, Advanced Auto Parts, Amazon Prime, Best Buy, Burberry, Cabelas, Chanel, Staples,
Timberland and Vans. The results showed a marked improvement over last year’s study.
Steve Osburn, managing director at Kurt Salmon, said click and collect is the “real bright spot this year” and that historically, buying online and picking up in-store “was a difficult transaction for the customer, whereas now retailers have built ease and convenience into the experience by placing kiosks at the front of the store and allocating parking spaces.”
The research showed that 64 percent of retailers delivered a complete order within one week, which compares to 63 percent in 2018, and 50 percent back in 2017. “We are seeing many retailers honing their competitive agility and excelling in terms of speed, visibility into inventory and the ability to fulfill last-minute orders,” Osburn said. “One of the critical components is to ensure they have a function on their mobile app or online that gives the opportunity for a customer to see all the inventory in an easy way in the store that is near them.”
The firm also cited several retailers for delivering the best “overall customer experience,” which include Home
Depot, Nordstrom, Kohl’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Other notable findings in the report include faster average processing time, which was 2.5 hours this year versus
3.6 hours last year. “Only 27 percent of retailers have had an issue with their order (cancellation, wrong item, etc.) versus 60 percent in 2018,” the firm noted.
In the BIGresearch report, researchers said the study involved 116,000 consumers using the BIGtoken app, which is a consumer-managed data marketplace.
The findings showed that 40 percent of respondents “planned to shop online for the holidays, 28 percent planned to shop in-store and 32 percent planned to shop both online and in-store.”
Consultants from Kurt Salmon, part of Accenture Strategy, identified topperforming retailers succeeding with buy online, pick-up in-store.