B&M has launched a home delivery service trial which allows customers to purchase products online for the first time.
Prior to this pivot online, customers could only buy goods instore. The retailer currently has 686 bricks-and-mortar stores across the UK.
Up to 100 products, including sofas, kitchen appliances and garden furniture, are available to order online for home delivery.
All items applicable for home delivery are marked with an orange van logo alongside the option to ‘add to basket’.
Delivery is calculated based on the size of the order, with small orders at £3.95, medium orders at £7.95 and large orders at £14.95.
The returns policy states that online purchases must be sent back within 30 days of receipt. Customers will be provided with a returns label once the reason for return has been approved online or by the customer care team.
According to B&M’s FY22 Preliminary Results, the deliver-to-home initiative comes following feedback from customers struggling to transport big-ticket items home without a car.
The budget retailer says it aims to increase the online offering to 1,000 products – but not the whole range.
“This trial will ultimately extend across c.1,000 SKUs representing in part bulkier or higher ticket general merchandise items which customers cannot always easily transport home from stores themselves or products that do not require disproportionate mail order packaging,” B&M says in its full-year statement. “Given the disruptive B&M price position, the business believes this could prove an attractive proposition for customers. However, it remains open minded as to the long term potential of the trial, and a ‘test and learn’ approach will be adopted over the coming months as customer response is closely monitored.”
B&M adds that if the trial is successful then it will consider introducing a permanent online-only range.
The move online comes shortly after Primark’s announcement that it will be trialling click and collect and in-store returns later this year.
B&M was founded in 1978, when it opened its first store in Blackpool. In 2021, the discount retailer turned over £4.7bn, with a total of 703 stores across the UK and France.
