You must have read the news that eBay is launching click-and-collect service[1]. It is nice to see the giant taking up the trend and helping marketplace sellers. Well done eBay !
eBay has good number of merchants who offer this service in their own store and it makes sense for eBay to empower these sellers to do so through their eBay stores. This will keep eBay customers within eBay platform. If I found a bargain on Argos eBay Store, there is no need for me to look for that in Argos website and reserve it as I can do it on eBay now!
There is growing importance of click & collect or reserve & collect service with 40% of UK consumers using such services over Christmas in 2012.[2] Retailers adopting this service have driven sales significantly:
- Check and Reserve accounted for 29% of Argos’ £819m sales in Q1 2012.
- Halfords introduced a click and collect service two years ago, and now 86% of all its online sales are for in-store collection.
Sainsbury is believed to have most comprehensive click and collect scheme with this service available in more than 900 stores.[3] Retailers are adopting this service rapidly and keeping their consumers very satisfied. According to the survey carried out by market research firm Simpson Carpenter in December 2011, revealed 70 % of those who have tried click & collect before found the service very satisfactory the last time they used it.[4] Tescos, Asda and Waitrose are following this trend.
So, if you have retail stores you know what you need to do next. Even if you have one store!
Another interesting side of this service is finding local deals and not paying for delivery. Specially Bank Holiday Bonanza!
It’s not limited to deals. I would search filter by “Distance nearest first” to avoid delivery.
You could see this eBay feature to compete with Amazon Lockers. In whatever way you see it, it is clear that if you got retail store offer “click & collect” service. Thank you eBay for taking one step further to help retailers to add value to their eBay listings.
[1] http://www.retail-week.com/multichannel/ebay-plans-to-launch-click-and-collect-service-with-merchants/5049294.article
[2] http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/61867-40-of-shoppers-used-reserve-and-collect-over-christmas-stats
[3] http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/companies/supermarkets/sainsburys/online-satisfaction-scores-show-sainsburys-success/230065.article
[4] http://www.retailgazette.co.uk/articles/23311-feature-is-the-uk-a-click-collect-nation
