EXPECT TO COLLECT … by bike?

We shop differently now. And it won’t go back to being the same.

Your customers have new expectations you should know about. Discover why global brands such as McDonald’s have embraced click and collect. Learn how to harness the same strategy with our 10 insider tips.

And one more thing to consider, with regard to the Click and Collect option – the environment

Our Need for Speed, the rush to get everything delivered today or even same day, is leading to less than environmentally friendly carriage practices. The ideal would be to wait until a van has sufficient deliveries in one area to make a route that would please the time and motion study monitor. If customers are happy to wait, that’s wonderful. But what happens now is one driver will have deliveries in several different areas, often back tracking on themselves later in the day as parcels are not loaded in location order. 

But for those who want a product now without making an environmental compromise, the option to collect by bike or on foot could be very appealing. Rather than assuming every customer wants to roll up in a car, anticipate and encourage your customers’ green credentials by offering bike parking and a safe route on foot to the collection point – after all, we’re all into exercising these days! For safer times, let them know where the nearest station and bus stops are. Suggest they team up with friends and neighbours to collect their items too –  if the local neighbourhood WhatsApp group has a message offering a collection from your store, that’s a nice bit of free publicity.

Read on for some tips on how to make the most of selling online.