![\"Shopper](\"https:\/\/www.retailpro.com\/News\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/pexels-photo-297743.jpg\")
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One of the most popular trends today in online retailing is customers buying online and picking up in-store, a practice referred to, cleverly, in the U.K., as \u201cclick and collect.\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact more customers are asking for the service from the retailers they most often frequent.<\/p>\n
It’s a hybrid shopping experience: Customers can purchase an item anytime anywhere and then pick it up at their convenience at the retailer.<\/p>\n
Using this delivery model, a retailer can cultivate a convenient, streamlined image to the busy consumer; in addition, some stores are quite adept at drumming up related sales \u2014 upselling \u2014 at the time of pick up.<\/p>\n
A year ago, Accenture and hybris software, an SAP<\/a> company, commissioned Forrester Consulting to study how retailers can deploy successful omnichannel strategies<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Forrester study<\/a>\u00a0found that consumers expect more options from their retailers in the era of omnichannel: 71% regard in-store inventory online as a required feature, and half expect to buy online and pick up in-store.<\/p>\n The Forrester research found that too often, retailers seemed to be complacent about their omnichannel capabilities.<\/p>\n On the contrary, omnichannel is constantly evolving as customers\u2019 expectations continue to grow.<\/p>\n Despite the convenience of having an item shipped directly to a consumer, a new survey from retail technology company POPcodes<\/a> reports that 86 percent of customers\u00a0 who order products online and pick them up in store do so to avoid shipping fees.<\/p>\n The POPcodes study also found that 57 percent of consumers use the \u201corder online, pick up in-store\u201d option because they believe it makes returns and exchanges easier.<\/p>\n Four out of 10 respondents said they have picked up an online order in person.<\/p>\n \u201cThis survey reiterates what many of us in the retail world already understand: \u00a0The Internet has certainly changed the way consumers shop, but they will always have a special place in their hearts \u2013 and wallets \u2013 for shopping in a store,\u201d Gregg Aamoth, CEO and co-founder of POPcodes, said in a statement. \u201cRetailers simply have to figure out how to better tie the virtual and physical shopping worlds together.\u201d<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not offering click and collect, the time is now to get a strategy together.<\/p>\n Customers are clamoring for it; the POPcodes research reported that 97 percent of consumers who have chosen that option said they would do so again.<\/p>\n Buying online and picking up in-store personalizes the online transaction, opens an avenue for an upsell and is an effective competitive weapon.<\/p>\n Bridging the gap between online and in-store shopping is a win-win for both retailers and consumers alike.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the most popular trends today in online retailing is customers buying online and picking up in-store, a practice referred to, cleverly, in the U.K., as \u201cclick and collect.\u201d In fact more customers are asking for the service from … Continue reading