Click and collect
Click and collect has boomed and, as with home delivery, has been adopted by retailers new to online sales. Aldi initially trialled click and collect in one store in September 2020 before expanding to more than 200 stores by Christmas. Morrisons has expanded from 14 stores offering click and collect last March to nearly 450 as of January 2021. Sainsbury’s has added 200 new locations to its network, with click and collect accounting for 24% of online sales in the Christmas week in December.
Adapting to delivery
Some of the most impressive changes have come from those for whom online delivery was previously more of a future project. Co-op, for example, launched ecommerce delivery in March 2019 but by early 2020, was still only delivering direct from 50 stores. At the start of 2021, it now delivers from more than 1,000 stores and is the most widely available supermarket on Deliveroo.
This online expansion comes after the company was forced to condense a five-year rollout plan into just a few months. It has seen a tenfold increase in the volume of orders, with many customers new to the Co-op.
Chris Conway, head of ecommerce at the Co-op, says the retailer has seen new customers as a result. “We have attracted new customers and demographics, including customers who had not used online channels before and are seeing stickability to the channel too”.
Aldi has also moved online, initially with essential product food parcels to help vulnerable and self-isolating customers. It launched an on-demand delivery trial with Deliveroo, which expanded to nearly 130 stores in November. This allows customers within a 6km radius of a participating store to use the bike delivery app and choose from around 400 Aldi grocery items.
Richard Thornton, communications director at Aldi UK, says the move has helped those unable to visit its shops, while also attracting new customers. “By expanding our online presence, we’ve made Aldi accessible to thousands of shoppers who might never have visited before, or who aren’t able to visit a store in person at the moment,” he said.
via https://AiUpNow.com February 16, 2021 at 05:43AM by Liz Morrell, Khareem Sudlow,
