Click and Collect, The Way of the Future

In today’s society everyone wants things faster, now and for less. More and more people are looking for ways to say time and money as our pace as a society is not slowing down anytime soon. The future of social media and where we are going is huge and the idea of online grocery shopping is just the beginning.

Online shopping has been popular for years, being able to buy clothes, diapers, shoes, household items with the click of a button and have it show up at your door step is extremely popular because of its convenience and time saving appeal. Moving into groceries is a whole new ball game because you’re buying meat, fresh fruit and vegetables and dairy products that can’t be shipped in the mail. This is where ‘Click and Collect’ has come in.

‘Click and Collect’ is an online website that you can visit, view all the groceries in the store and add them to your cart. You then pick a time slot you would like to pick up at and arrive to the store. There are designated parking spots that you call a number when you arrive and for the small cost of $3-$5 someone will do your shopping and delivery to your vehicle. Jennifer Quesnel, Click Collect Manager commented that ‘ Convenience is that we have it all ready for you so you can spend your time doing whats important to you instead of coming in to shop”.

As with every new product there are downfalls but there are also big benefits. Some of the benefits with click and collect is obviously time saving, you can see the whole grocery store at your fingertips including flyers. You are also not tempted to buy the ‘extras’ that you hadn’t planned on you stick to your list and thats all you buy.

So what are some downfalls of this service? If you are picky about your groceries you will be hesitant to let someone else shop for you and pick out all your items especially produce. How do you know it’s going to be fresh, not bruised, not going to go bad in a few days? Quesnel commented that ‘part of employee training is an actual freshness course, what produce to pick, the best cuts of meat etc” this is important for shoppers to know so they don’t get home and realize they don’t have the items they want.

Lessons for Others

While this is something that is in place right now I feel it is just the beginning of where social media will take us in terms of online retail and groceries. Soon everyone will be shopping online, will grocery stores become just warehouses for online orders and you dont ever go in? Will they start delivering everything to your door? Will Amazon take on all groceries with their delivery services? These are all questions for the future and it will be exciting to see what happens next and where we go next with the future of grocery shopping.

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site, please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

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