Sainsbury’s finally joins click-and-collect grocery crowd
Sainsbury’s is letting customers order online and then pick up their shopping at bricks-and-mortar locations, joining rivals Tesco and Asda in transforming stores into click and collect points in order to offer an easier shopping experience.
Some 100 stores will offer the free service by the end of 2015 with the first collection sites up and running by the end of March.
Sainsbury’s, which generates annual online sales of around £1bn – 5 per cent of total turnover, said the offer is subject to a minimum £20 spend. Orders can be collected from refrigerated vans parked at participating stores, which will be manned by Sainsbury’s staff.
Sainsbury’s online director, Robbie Feather, said: “This is yet another step for Sainsbury’s increasingly popular online service, and a demonstration of our commitment to giving our customers more convenient ways to shop with us, wherever and whenever they want.
“We’ll have 20 locations live by the end of March and will quickly roll out our service from there, incorporating feedback from our customers and colleagues as we go.”
The retailer is playing catch-up in an area Tesco and Asda have been in since as early as 2010. Both have gone on to experiment further with non-store collection points in an attempt to adapt to the fragmented way people now shop. Instead of trying to dominate the physical over the virtual retail channels or vice versa, supermarkets are realising that they need to straddle both in order to offer a comprehensive experience.
Sainsbury’s foray into click and collect teases a larger commitment to digital. Online sales slowed significantly to 6 per cent in the third quarter from 10 per cent a year earlier, no doubt impacted from the supermarket’s play to drive profitable sales growth and low-key marketing for its online offering. The retailer’s first dark store next year will also give it the extra capacity needed in London to to push its online business harder.