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Click & Collect
Click & Collect lets customers buy and pay for products online and pick them up in-store, skipping both shipping costs and delivery wait times.
Definition
Customers complete the purchase, including payment, through a retailer's online shop or marketplace, then collect the goods in person at a physical location. This is the key difference from Click & Reserve, where payment only happens at pickup, not at the time of ordering.
The three Click & Collect models
Why retailers offer Click & Collect
- No shipping cost for the retailer or the customer, which matters most for price-sensitive purchases
- No delivery wait: the order is ready as soon as it's picked, not as soon as a carrier delivers it
- Flexible timing: customers collect on their own schedule rather than waiting for a delivery window
- Additional in-store revenue: customers picking up an order are already in the store and can browse or add items
- Lower risk of failed delivery: no missed doorstep deliveries or return-to-sender parcels
What Click & Collect requires operationally
Click & Collect only works reliably if store-level inventory is accurate in real time, promising an in-store pickup for an item that isn't actually on the shelf creates a worse experience than not offering the option at all. This is why Click & Collect depends heavily on store operations that can confirm stock at the specific pickup location, not just across the retailer's network as a whole.