Prior to the second lockdown when stores were still open, Qudini’s survey of 2,000 UK consumers showed a clear opportunity for every type of retailer to better engage between 11% to 34% of their Millennial and GenZ customer base and 5% to 31% of Baby Boomers through offering contactless click and collect services.
Now that stores have been forced to close yet again, we predict that these numbers will be even higher.
What is curbside click and collect?
Find out more about curbside click and collect.
Where do consumers want to use it?
Prior to lockdown measures being announced: grocery stores received the highest interest with 34% of consumers wanting to be able to conduct contactless click and collect collections from outside of them.
This was followed by pharmacies (25%), fashion/clothing stores (22%), electronics stores (22%), department stores (21%), shoe stores (20%), shopping malls (20%), health food stores (19%), book stores (19%), sportswear stores (18%), makeup / skincare stores (17%) and pet stores (17%), homeware / furniture stores (16%), DIY stores (16%), phone stores (15%), luxury stores (14%), jewellery stores (14%) and lingerie stores (12%).
Across all industries, GenZ and Millennial customers are more likely than Baby Boomers to want to receive contactless click and collect services from outside of the store. However, Baby Boomers are more or equally interested in the concept of contactless click and collect services from grocery stores, pharmacies, garden centres and DIY stores.
Why retailers should look to implement curbside click and collect
When asked what the benefit of a retailer offering contactless click and collect pickup services would be to them (prior to November lockdown measures), 81% of Millennial and GenZ consumers stated at least one benefit if a retailer offered them this service, including:
- 22% would be more likely to buy something online – indicating that offering contactless click and collect services would enable a retailer to acquire new customers and to increase conversion of customers.
- 28% would feel safer and happier and 23% would think better of the retailer – demonstrating that contactless click and collect services can will enable the retailer to improve brand relationships and perception..
- 23% would be more likely to visit the retailers stores in general – suggesting that contactless click and collect services from the curbside will enable a retailer to drive more traffic into their stores long term.
- 23% would be more likely to choose the retailer over their competitors – demonstrating that a retailer could better stand out amongst competitors by offering this service.
- 23% would be more likely to tell their friends about the retailer – demonstrating that contactless click and collect services can help retailers to improve customer advocacy amongst almost a quarter of their customers to ultimately attract more customers to their brand.
Compared with Baby Boomers, Millennial and GenZ customers are twice as likely to be influenced to shop with a retailer online, as a result of them offering a contactless click and collect service. They are also twice as likely to advocate the service to their friends. While they are also slightly more likely to be influenced to visit the retailers’ stores in general, to think better of the retailer and to visit the retailer in general.
The greater interest in contactless curbside click and collect services amongst younger versus older generations suggests that contactless curbside could be part of retails post-Covid future as these age groups continue to increase in spending power.
Higher household income brackets also report being more likely to buy something online and to visit the retailers stores in general if they were to offer a contactless click and collect service from outside of the store. Even when their stores are open.
These insights suggest that during the November 2020 lockdown retailers could further attract these high value customers by offering contactless curbside collections from outside of their stores.
How do consumers like to use it?
When asked which channels customers would most like to use to let a retailer know that they have arrived outside of store to collect their online order, we found that:
- On average, across all generations, customers were the most likely to want to check-in to alert the store they have arrived to collect their order: by texting an SMS code (26%) and by using a link in their order confirmation email (24%).
- They were second most likely to check-in from a self-service tablet kiosk (19%) or a QR code (19%).
- Whereas checking in through a store host with a tablet or a customer service desk was least preferred, perhaps because it defeated the point of being able to conduct a contactless collection from outside of the store.
- When broken down by generation, Millennial and GenZ customers are equally as interested in checking in via self-service tablet kiosks and QR codes as they are by SMS codes and using their order confirmation emails. Overall they are more interested in using all check-in methods with the biggest difference being that they are 2.4 to 3 times more likely to check-in using a QR code or via a self-service tablet kiosk.
- Baby Boomers are twice as likely to choose to check-in via SMS codes or their order confirmation emails than they are by QR codes or self-service tablets.
We later asked USA consumers the same question but added in the option for using a retailer’s app and found that this came up within the top three options.
To help our clients to understand how to best deploy our curbside collection solution to maximize upon these significant benefits, we also asked our USA consumer audience which scenarios customers would be most likely to use contactless curbside collection services in (on foot or by car) and found that:
- 65% of consumers would be likely to use the curbside pickup service when collecting items by car.
- 49% said they would be likely to use the curbside pickup service when collecting items by foot.
- GenZ and Millennial consumers are 31% more likely than Baby Boomers to want to use a contactless cubside pickup services by foot. Whereas both generations are equally likely to want to use the service when travelling by car.
- When looking at the results across household income groups, collecting items by car is the preferred method across all income brackets. Higher household income groups are 33% more interested in collecting items by car than lower income households (76% compared to 57%).
Ways to inform customers to check-in for their orders:
1) Their order confirmation email
2) End of parking bay placards
3) Outside of store and end of parking bay lollipops
4) Parking bay – painted or vinyl sticker
Ways to inform customers to check-in for their orders:
1) Window posters
2) Flyers on their parcels
3) Shop window open/closed signs
Perfect your signage
Learn how to perfect your signage content to drive customers to check-in to collect their online orders using our Signage Best Practice Guide:
Our formula for effective signage
Example signs using the formula
