Click and collect is back in the spotlight this week with the announcement by Sainsbury’s that it is to launch an Argos click and collect service through 100 stores later this year. The move follows a six store trial and further expands the company’s delivery reach as well as continuing to show the importance of the delivery offering for convenience and choice. Modern day retail really is about making life easier than ever for shoppers when it comes to delivery.
Click and collect technology company HubBox meanwhile has announced plans to expand its network of collection points to more than 6,000 by peak 2018, a goal it says will make it the widest-reaching click and collect network in the UK, after a partnership with Payzone.
Delivery really has become the new currency, and a bargaining tool that can make or break a shopper experience, as Frank Lochbaum, managing partner at KPS, explains in his opinion piece this week. It’s one that retailers can’t afford to ignore.
Returns is one of the major challenges in this and so we see this week news of Pass My Parcel becoming the latest company to take advantage of ReBOUND, allowing shoppers faster returns for their online orders.
We also have news of UK Mail’s £21 million investment to grow its regional network with three new facilities opening before Christmas, and we have an update from P2P Mailing, one of the latest in a line of companies to have faced the devastation of a fire at their premises.
The company says the business is now operating as normal following the blaze on 20 August and it has found alternative premises to replace that which was destroyed. The fact that it has been able to get back to normal so quickly is further evidence of the need for all businesses in the sector to have back-up disaster plans for when things like this happen. The delivery market doesn’t stand still and retail customers really are more demanding than ever.
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