Argos and eBay are to extend their Click & Collect pilot.
The general merchandise multichannel retailer and the pureplay marketplace have been testing a set-up in which goods sold by some eBay merchants were available for delivery to a limited number of Argos stores for the end customer to pick up. The trial was first announced in September.
Then around 50 eBay sellers offered a selected range of products for collection in 150 Argos stores. eBay says the trial was successful and “incredibly popular with customers,” with most of those who used the service and other comparable services rating eBay’s Click & Collect at Argos as one of the best available.
Now the service will be extended to around 650 Argos stores, with items from more eBay sellers available for collection. eBay predicts that by the end of this year, some 65,000 eBay sellers will offer items for collection at Argos, rising to around 80,000 in 2015.
Tanya Lawler, UK vice president at eBay, said: “Retail has changed and shoppers are in the driving seat like never before. They want to shop anytime, anywhere, on any device and British shoppers love to Click & Collect. It’s a service being rapidly adopted by larger retailers and this partnership with Argos now gives tens of thousands of sellers the chance to capitalise on Click & Collect, even if they have no high street presence of their own.”
David Robinson, chief operating officer at Argos, said: “I’m delighted the operational trial in a number of Argos stores around the UK has been successful. The next stage in the agreement is to have more sellers, more stores and more volume to assess how we can scale this partnership for the benefit of consumers, Argos and eBay. Fulfilment is the next retail battleground and Argos’ unique model is well placed to leverage this.”
The tie-up is a symbiotic one, benefitting both retailers in different ways. It gives eBay access to the stores that are becoming increasing important in a multichannel landscape. Click & Collect has grown enormously in popularity, and for many multichannel retailers is approaching 50% of online sales.
Meanwhile, Argos benefits from the shoppers coming into its stores and potentially buying other items while they are there. Argos has said some 90% of all its transactions involve its stores, even when they take place online, and the eBay shoppers could well become its shoppers too. Argos has lately been trialling its own digital stores, which give much greater prominence to collection, with systems aimed at swift pick-up of Click & Collect orders.
