Consumers Continue to Be Enticed by Click and Collect

Click and collect is rapidly growing in popularity, even among consumers who haven’t tried it yet.

Nearly nine in 10 US internet users said they were interested in picking up their online order at the register, according to an October 2019 survey from the National Retail Federation (NRF) conducted by Toluna Analytics. That was also the most popular choice among respondents who had tried the service, followed by curbside pickup.

Fewer respondents had tried methods like trunk delivery or using a locker code, but there was a lot of interest. Nearly three-quarters (74%) said they were interested in getting their orders delivered to the trunks of their cars, and slightly fewer (63%) wanted to try using a locker.

Similarly, a September 2019 survey from Field Agent indicated that 51% of US online shoppers considered themselves very or completely likely to use click and collect this past holiday season.

Most click-and-collect activity happening now is coming from big-box retailers like Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Kohl’s, all of which have advanced click-and-collect operations. The share of online sales coming from click-and-collect orders at the top 10 multichannel retailers rose from 19.1% in Q4 2017 to 22.5% in Q3 2019, per data from Rakuten Intelligence.

Target CEO Brian Cornell called out click and collect during an earnings call last year, indicating that it was a key source of the company’s momentum. “In our digital channels, we continue to see the most rapid growth in our same-day fulfillment options, in-store pickup, Drive Up and Shipt, which together have more than doubled their sales in the last year,” he said. “These options offer speed, convenience and reliability, and as a result, they are quickly becoming the preferred fulfillment choices for our guests.”

We expect the number of US click-and-collect buyers to reach 137.7 million by the end of 2020, accounting for half of the population. That figure will grow to 147.1 million by 2023.