Brits fail to pick up £228m of click-and-collect orders

Data from Barclaycard, which processes almost half of the UK’s debit and credit card transactions, found that 71% of Brits now use click-and-collect when ordering online, with nine in 10 retailers highlighting it as their fastest-growing delivery option.

But 30% of customers who failed to pick up orders said they opted not to do so because of the “hassle” involved when collecting their parcels in-store. They instead prefer to wait for a refund and reorder goods for home delivery.

Other reasons cited by shoppers for not picking up click-and-collect orders included long wait times, poorly staffed collection points, struggling to find the click-and-collect desk and having to pay for the service.

According to the survey, retailers said they would save more than £178,500 every year if more shoppers collected their purchases.

Consumers said they would be more likely to do so if retailers rewarded click-and-collect customers with special offers or in-store experiences.

‘Click and connect’

As a result of the findings, Barclaycard has teamed up with Decathlon to offer a ‘click and connect’ pop-up experience.

The sports retail giant will host the microclimate experience for hikers at its Surrey Quays store from today until August 23.

The area will allow customers to test hiking products in a microclimate designed to replicate Mount Snowdon, mimicking its temperature and mountainous ground conditions.

Barclaycard Payment Solutions director Kirsty Morris said: “Enhancing the click-and-collect experience is a potentially lucrative way for retailers to ward off the unprecedented challenges of the high street and bridge the gap between online and in-store shopping.”

Decathlon UK head of operations Christian Baggaley added: “We have seen a real increase in the number of shoppers opting to use click-and-collect since 2017 and are constantly looking at ways to make the overall shopping experience better for our customers.

“Hiking products are really popular with our shoppers and so we’ll be hosting the microclimate experience at our Surrey Quays store to enable shoppers to test items they’ve ordered through click-and-collect, in the same mountainous temperatures they will experience on their hike.”