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F ood retailers who already faced with a dilemma: They now have to decide what delivery options to offer their customers. Supermarkets must evaluate capital and labor investments associated with each option, as well as how much to charge for the service. While click-and-collect may seem like a good, inexpensive option, our client’s data suggests that in-store pick up represents less than 10 percent of all online orders. Young shoppers living hectic lives are looking to save time. While click-and collect saves a customer the time it takes to roam supermarket aisles, it still requires a trip to the store. If you really want to make your customers happy, then go the extra mile and bring fresh groceries straight to their door. Thanks to you, they can spend that extra time with family and friends, and they will love you for that. They will be your loyal and grateful customers for as long as you continue to provide them with good service and convenience. use online commerce, or are planning to enter the field, are A survey was recently conducted to determine if customers were interested in online grocery shopping. When asked how interested respondents were in having orders delivered to an address of their choice, more than 70 percent expressed interest. Sixty-three percent of those surveyed said they would pay a delivery fee between $0 and $10; 27 percent said they would be willing to pay a fee of between $10 and $15; 8 percent would consider paying between $15 to $20, and 3 percent said they would pay between $20 to $25 for the convenience. What Will Customers Pay to Play?

a year after launching online shopping – results that compare very favorably with Walmart’s 2.8 percent reported increase in 2016. If you wish to reap the full benefit of offering e-commerce but are not yet ready to manage deliveries in-house, there are other options such as Shipt, Uber, Lyft, and other companies with which we integrate our services. These delivery services will pick up the order from your store and deliver it straight to your customer, offering live driver tracking information that shows exactly how long the order will take to arrive. Some of these delivery services offer white label solutions, which may be a good compromise for many supermarkets. While everyone is trying to figure out the right model and decide between click-and-collect and home delivery, it appears that the right model is to offer both. ■

As with grocery delivery, cost is an important factor when it comes to consumer interest in click-and-collect services. Almost a third of respondents (33 percent) would be willing to pay for the convenience of having their grocery order picked and packed by a personal shopper, ready for pick-up at their favorite store location. When asked how much they would consider paying for this service, nearly 70 percent would pay at least $5. The results of the survey directly correlate with our clients’ data, and both show that fewer people are interested in and willing to pay for click-and-collect services than they are for home delivery. Here’s What it Will Take Click-and-collect can be arranged by supermarket management with minimal cost and effort. Creating designated pick-up areas and establishing business processes where perishable items are kept refrigerated while awaiting the customer’s arrival are usually sufficient. Setting up home deliveries, on the other hand, can turn out to be a costly and difficult to manage option. Managing vehicles and deliveries will require a serious commitment and strong operational skills. Nevertheless, many of our clients have decided to manage their deliveries internally, explaining that it is very important for them to have full control of customer experience. As a result, they have been rewarded with customer loyalty and higher online basket sizes. “A fleet of supermarket-branded vehicles driving around neighborhoods brings online traffic and in-store customers,” says Solomon Gelbstein, General Manager of The Market Place supermarket in Brooklyn, New York. The store has seen overall store sales increased by as much as 15 percent just

Dan Dashevsky is Founder and Chief Operating Officer at My Cloud Grocer.

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