Cape Town – A touch over 22 years ago, British retailer Argos pioneered a new delivery method that allowed customers to order goods online and collect them from a designated pickup point.
Today we know this as click & collect, and it has become a global phenomenon.
The service is used by 40% of customers in the UK, where more than 41% of physical stores are now used as click & collect locations, according to research by Barclays.
The numbers are similar in Australia, where three in every 10 people make use of this option. Notably, the 2022 Global Digital Playbook Australia Edition found that four in every 10 click & collect shoppers ended up buying more items when they went to the store to pick up their orders.
Its attraction is that it is extremely convenient and cheaper than other delivery choices.
Click & collect first came to South Africa eight years ago, and now there are very few major retailers who don’t offer it.
Blazing the trail in 2015, Cape Town-based click & collect specialist Pargo boasts over 3500 pickup points countrywide.
One of the company’s standout points is that it recognised early on that South Africa needed a service that catered to all citizens, not only those living in better-off neighbourhoods. Its collection points now cover a staggering 87% of the country’s postal codes, many of which occur in townships and rural areas.
By having township stores that offer the service, problems of poor infrastructure or couriers not being able to find addresses or being too afraid to go into crime-ridden neighbourhoods could be overcome.
“Click and collect resonates with township shoppers because there is no need to wait for couriers or deal with delivery uncertainty. Residents now simply go to their favourite store and pick up what they’ve ordered online while doing their everyday grocery shopping,” says Pargo co-founder Lars Veul.
The growth of click & collect has necessitated advancements in technology to keep up with customer expectations. Systems now include technology for inventory management and tracking, all of which are geared towards improving the customers experience and making life easier for retailers.
Two decades on from Argos’ breakthrough the sky is the limit for click & collect, especially if you consider that total global e-commerce sales are expected to top $8.1-trillion (R146-trillion) by 2026.
A large percentage of that amount will be down to more people selling wares via social media platforms. Since most of these traders fall into the small and medium-size business category, they will look to click & collect as a more cost-effective last-mile delivery option, both for themselves and for consumers.
Click & collect also resonates with environmentally-conscious shoppers as goods are delivered to one, rather than multiple, locations, thereby cutting down on carbon emissions.
Technology will also continue to develop.
One is example is chatbots that connect any customer changes directly to the order preparation team. This will play a huge role in eliminating mistakes in delivery.
Enabled geolocation apps can also assist stores serving as pickup points to anticipate when they need to have an order ready for a collecting customer.
Pargo is itself investing in innovations in the click & collect space, including an app that allows anyone to send a parcel from a pickup point, live tracking and cash on collection.
