Covid-19 has advanced Kingfisher Group’s ecommerce journey by at least two years and seen click and collect sales grow by 226%, as well as the company attract 10 million new online customers.
Revealing its results today for the year ended 31 January 2021, Kingfisher Group said group ecommerce sales grew by 158% during the period, accounting for 18% of sales and up from 8% the previous year.
To enable this as stores closed at the start of the first lockdown in March 2020 the group shifted to store-based picking and fulfilment as a priority. During the year 92% of the Group’s online orders were picked in store, 11 percentage points higher than the previous year. Excluding Screwfix, 89% of online orders were picked in store, up 32 percentage points.
The group is trialling click and collect lockers at B&Q, Castorama France and Poland, and has implemented contactless ‘Drive-thru’ and car park collections in France.
In the UK around 20% of B&Q stores are now being used as digital hubs, allowing for an expanded available range. B&Q is also testing same day home delivery.
Click and collect sales grew by 226% during the year, accounting for 90% of online orders and 78% of group ecommerce sales. The figures are up from a share of 82% of online orders and 62% of group ecommerce sales the year before.
2021 will see Kingfisher Group continue to innovate in last-mile delivery for B&Q, as well as focus on mobile first collection and last mile delivery for Screwfix.
