Click and Collect: There is no second chance. Don't blow it.

BrainMustard is collaborating with Metrolinx (partnering with Loblaw's) to start the first Click and Collect for groceries across most stations in Greater Toronto Area.
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Why is the adoption rate for Click and Collect so slow?

Despite the success of Click & Collect in the UK and France with consumers embracing it like mad men, the adoption of Click & Collect has been much slower in the rest of the world, most notably in North America. The issue is that many US retailers only offer a half-baked Click & Collect, more along the lines of the typical “pick-up at store” instead of the fully-fledged Click & Collect services offered in Europe. These half-baked attempts which were doomed from the beginning have led many retailers concluding that due to the vast differences in consumer behavior between North Americans and Europeans, Click & Collect wouldn’t work in North America as it did in Europe.

Image: Auchan's Click and Collect, Successfully designed based on a well-crafted CX map

The popularity of Click & Collect in Europe was a natural evolution of the retail landscape in response to legislative and consumer behavior. In France, for example, for the longest time, the Click & Collect was exempt from the retail tax and licensing fees and hence it has become the choice discount outlet. In the UK, prior to genesis of C&C, many independent convenience stores, for a nominal fee, were collecting parcels on behalf of their neighboring homes.

In the absence of similar catalysts in North America, the retailers need to overcome the inertia that their customers have – why switch from brick-and-mortar and online which they know best – and convince the shoppers that C&C is a practical solution to a need that they have failed to recognize in their lives.

The good news is the need for Click & Collect is as real as it gets and for majority of consumers who have experienced a well-designed C&C experience, have loved it and this channel has become their preferred method of shopping.

Image: The global Psychographic map of Click and Collect by BrainMustard.
The volume of consumer generated contents: 42 million(2018)

Who does need Click & Collect anyway?

There are several unmet and latent needs that Click & Collect addresses, but those needs are highly situational and transient.

Image: The Situational Needs for Click and Collect

A new mother grabbing a few items from the store is a completely different world from most shoppers. Getting her kids ready to go outside, in the car, to the store making sure her more mobile ones don’t run off is a huge undertaking. And more often than not she’ll have to abandon her cart if one child starts to get upset. What could have taken a quick trip ends up being over an hour without any of the needed items.

Canadians know what it’s like to shop in -22 F winters. Not only do you not want to leave the car, but an icy parking lot can leave you in a broken heap.

Or ask someone with a disability how difficult it can be to load heavier items to their shopping carts and unload them into their cars.

The joy of Christmas shopping quickly evaporates once the never-ending checkout line becomes clear. Often items aren’t worth the time spent waiting in line, many shoppers decide to abandon their carts and leave the store empty handed.

What if after a busy work week you still haven’t been able to pick up those much needed items for the party you’re throwing this weekend and your boss asks you to stay late on Friday in order to meet a deadline? Nothing’s open by the time you’re done, and you don’t have enough time the morning of.

In each of these situations neither instore shopping nor home delivery would benefit the consumers as much as C&C could.

But People Fail to Concieve Those Needs Even When They Are Most Felt.

For the most part, the consumers know only vaguely what Click & Collect is and therefore they are not certain how the retailer can solve their problems before they appear. But even when the shoppers do know about C&C, retailers face the next major hurdle which is consumers’ procrastination in setting up their accounts. During the time of personal crisis, the consumers just don’t want to spend the time setting up an account, thinking that it’s easier and faster to just run to the store than put in the initial time investment to sign up.

In the next article, we will discover the most effective incentives and methods that got consumers learn about the benefits of Click & Collect and promoting the adoption of this great service.

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