Click and collect woes suffered by shoppers in Christmas run-up

Thursday, January 14, 2016 - 09:45 by Mike Price

People who chose to buy presents online and then collect them from their local store, rather than having them delivered to their doorstep, were surprisingly likely to encounter issues with this service, according to the results of a new YouGov survey.

Almost a third of respondents said that they had to wait for an extended amount of time when using the click and collect delivery option offered by many major high street chains during the festive shopping period last year.

Meanwhile, 24 per cent said that when they did get the opportunity to collect goods, members of staff working for the retailer then had trouble finding the items they had ordered.

Thirty one per cent said that they were unable to arrange a click and collect pickup in their area because a retailer had yet to make click and collect available in that particular location.

This suggests that although click and collect is quickly becoming a popular delivery option for those consumers who carry out safe shopping online, there are still some kinks that retailers need to iron out, in order to avoid further upset.

Respondents to the study were also asked to talk about any other e-commerce issues they suffered while preparing for Christmas 2015, with 48 per cent stating that home deliveries had been delayed and a similar proportion stating that they had not been around to accept deliveries at the time they arrived.

Report spokesperson, Jason Shorrock, said that it was worrying to see retailers failing to handle in-store collection as well as expected. And since over three quarters of consumers in the UK said that they would be happy to stop placing online orders with a retailer, after encountering issues, addressing problems quickly is the only way that companies can improve loyalty.