Why Aren't Click and Collect Purchases Not Instantly Processed by Stores?

bingsta on 24/01/2021 - 09:10
Last edited 24/01/2021 - 11:38 by 1 other user

Hello all,

Was wondering if anyone in the retail industry has any idea why in this day and age, click and collect purchased are not instantly processed by stores?

Have bought several items at different stores through click and collect and often the default msg says it may take 48 hours to process blablabla. I am usually able to go to the store same or next day and get them to find my order manually.

Just wondering where the delay is in the logistics process for what one would think should be instant.

Edit: By "instant", I am mostly referring to the IT side of things. I understand workers on site have many other things to attend to…

General Discussion

Comments

  • apsilon on 24/01/2021 - 09:17
    +48

    You think in store staff are just standing around waiting for your online order? They've got in store customers and other online orders to deal with not to mention all the usual backend stuff that has to be done. It's likely it'll get done sooner but best practice is always under promise and over deliver.

      • apsilon on 24/01/2021 - 09:52
        +23

        If you find it unreasonable then there's two easy solutions. Don't purchase from that store or rather than ordering online, drive to the store, pick it off the shelf yourself, pay and leave.

        • Ocker on 24/01/2021 - 12:51
          -8

          Exactly my point

          • cwongtech on 24/01/2021 - 12:53
            +3

            @Ocker:

            Exactly my point

            I don't see one.

            If a store does not have the ability to offer an efficient and prompt shopping experience then they need to look at their internal logistics.

            Vote with your wallet then..
            Goodguys does 1 hr click and collect

    • HeWhoKnows on 25/01/2021 - 18:37

      Not to mention checking or ordering the stock

  • jimbobaus on 24/01/2021 - 09:22
    +7

    I know for example in my industry. Click and collect items are not always at the store (furniture etc) and it needs to be transferred from our warehouse which can take a few days to organise.

    As commented above there is a process that needs to be gone through and staff are not just standing around waiting for your order so they can go pick it for you.

    Also A lot of companies have central warehouses (Uniqlo, target and others) and click and collect stock is allocated from these warehouses not store stock. So your item is simply posted to the store from this warehouse rather than posted to you directly

  • [Deactivated] on 24/01/2021 - 09:30
    +5

    If they're taking 48 hours it's probably not in stock in the local store and they're shipping from another store/warehouse to the local store. Essentially it's just 'free shipping' as long as they can put it on the same truck as all the other orders that are going to that store.

    Also, they don't like to over-promise, unless they have a highly accurate stock system there's not going to be anything worse for the customer experience than a customer showing up after an hour to find it isn't in stock.

  • EFC94 on 24/01/2021 - 09:45
    +17

    Work a few days in retail and you will understand why it isn't processed instantly.

  • tooblue on 24/01/2021 - 10:20
    +9

    If you are able to go to the store same day, why don't you go straight to the store and buy it.
    I sometime never understand people's behaviour .

    • kerfuffle on 24/01/2021 - 10:40
      +5

      Boosted cashback or extra frequent flyer points making it technically cheaper to buy online

    • bingsta on 24/01/2021 - 11:12
      -2

      Because online you can claim cash rewards etc. I guess my question is on the IT side of things why is it not instant. Most times when Ive gone to click and collect the item is not waiting for me at the counter anyway. The staff go and physically get it off the shelf or out back. So why not just let customers pick up as soon as it is purchased online. One time I went to Bing Lee to click and collect and had to wait an hour for the staff to "receive an email" before I cud collect…

      • jjjaar on 24/01/2021 - 11:51
        +2

        Most times when Ive gone to click and collect the item is not waiting for me at the counter anyway.

        That’s because the staff have already taken it off the shelf or to put it in an organised, easy to find click and collect location.

        Chances are on the floor or even in the back stock it’s organised by item, but a click and collect location would be organised by your name or order number.

      • lgacb08 on 24/01/2021 - 16:30

        mate, if you want it cheap you gotta wait, the IT side of things is instant but how many IT level in their system do you know of? What's their queue system? Why don't you run your own store and see how you can sort out the things when you have 500 back order items one day and zero the next? Are you gonna hire 100 full-time employees, pay them at least 1 week wages just to get rid of that 1 day order and doing pretty much nothing for the rest of the week? Get a life.

  • foxmulder on 24/01/2021 - 11:08
    +1

    Regardless the process or procedure in retail store, when a store offers click and collect, if they can do few hours ready is much more desirable rather than 1-2 days. Stores can just focus on items they have on hand for that particular store, then they should hire more staff once demands increase.

  • tsunamisurfer on 24/01/2021 - 11:39
    +15

    The hint of the sense of entitlement is horrible.

    The shop must drop everything to process the OP's order.

    • Ocker on 24/01/2021 - 12:53
      -2

      No - just provide the service they have offered in a reasonable time

    • [Deactivated] on 24/01/2021 - 12:59
      -1

      Most people expect a reasonable turn around time but there are some stores that just suck and need to die.

      Myer is beyond hope and Harvey Norman makes Myer look efficient

      • pharkurnell on 24/01/2021 - 13:14

        bought a headset at Harveys online and got the pick it up email within 2 hours.. yea, very inefficient.

        • [Deactivated] on 24/01/2021 - 13:17

          You paid too much and supported a terrible business

          • pharkurnell on 24/01/2021 - 13:21
            +2

            @[Deactivated]: How do you know how much I paid?
            Yea terrible.. they were only store with the model I wanted and supplied same day… Terrible i say.. absolutely horrible..

            • [Deactivated] on 24/01/2021 - 15:55

              @pharkurnell: Ok Gerry

              • pharkurnell on 24/01/2021 - 17:20
                +1

                @[Deactivated]: great comeback.. Im shattered.. truly.
                did you take all that time to google it? You wouldnt work for NASA do you? LMAO

                • [Deactivated] on 24/01/2021 - 18:26

                  @pharkurnell: No. Yes in 2018.

  • RoosterBooster on 24/01/2021 - 11:49
    +1

    A number of stores advertise c&c within 1, 2 or 3 hours. I stick to stores that advertise this if I want the order quickly. However, I live in a rural town and sometimes ask someone to pick up my order so am not always in a hurry for it.

    I find Chemist Warehouse the fastest. I'm usually still lifting my finger of the submit order button when I get the ready for collection notification.

  • netsurfer on 24/01/2021 - 12:15
    +3

    Edit: By "instant", I am mostly referring to the IT side of things. I understand workers on site have many other things to attend to…

    How do you know it is IT side taking 48 hours? The 48 hours are basically for the store to actually process them. It is really up to the store staff.

    Unless you are certain the retail stores don't see the order for 48 hours, generally you can go to the store and the staff generally will help you with the order. Honestly, it is easier for the IT to send the order to the store right away, rather wait a few hours (or 48 hours) to send them in batches.

  • thatonethere on 24/01/2021 - 12:18
    +1

    Even when the store database says it is available it is not always. Eg day before Xmas my bbq meat thermometer was dead so I checked the local bunnings and no worries heaps in stock.

    Go in and the shelf is bare . Presumably stolen… or database not up to date. (Wtf why tho as that is what a database is for).

    • kerfuffle on 24/01/2021 - 12:31
      +1

      Could also be stock still sitting on the dock that hasn’t been unpacked yet

      • thatonethere on 24/01/2021 - 12:36

        I got the standard "nothing out back" when I asked. But that could mean I could.not be armed looking either

        • cwongtech on 24/01/2021 - 12:58

          As Kerfuffle said..

          Could also be stock still sitting on the dock that hasn’t been unpacked yet

          This is a valid reason, as soon as the "shipment containing x y z items" gets scanned into the receiving area, it shows up on the system.
          Stores don't scan individual items when they're unpacked and "on display"

          I got the standard "nothing out back" when I asked. But that could mean I could.not be armed looking either

          Depends how busy and how long they took to look.
          If it's 5-10 minutes, they probably had a thorough look for you and couldn't find it.
          If it's 30 secs - 2 minutes, they may have not had a thorough look.

          Try a different staff member or a store (or shop online)

    • apsilon on 24/01/2021 - 12:59

      Bunnings have terrible stock control though. I've run into that issues several times. Sometimes it's obvious they've counted the wrong item during the last stock take, other times the item is in stock but it's the last one and damaged etc.

    • Never Pay RRP on 26/01/2021 - 19:53

      I generally phone the store to confirm the stock. If there’s lots I just go in and get it. If not much I ask them to hold it for me. So far every store has been happy to do this

  • plmko on 24/01/2021 - 12:58
    +1

    It is the IT side of things and also what system they are using to process payments.

    JB Hifi is a beast at it because they are using Shopify and excellent inventory management. But this is not cheap nor easy to do.

    • cwongtech on 24/01/2021 - 13:02

      It is the IT side of things and also what system they are using to process payments.

      Not necessarily, it's a resourcing issue
      Retail has traditionally been bricks and mortar, and not used to online shopping or click and collect services.

      At the time I used to work at Rebel, normally the register ops would do click and collect (in the beginning) when they were free, then slowly there was a dedicated staff member for all C&C orders (if it's just one, they could get inundated with sales from online orders) and from what I heard last, there's back of house team (to compliment front-of-house) instead, so my guess is they would be doing the C&C orders

  • cassidy02 on 24/01/2021 - 19:13

    There's a great episode of Superstore called "Curbside Pick Up" which shows you what it's like for the workers trying to keep up with absurd targets.

  • kyle on 24/01/2021 - 23:23
    +1

    I always wish that click and collect means more of a first in first served basis. That is, if the item is in stock and bought as click and collect, a customer in the store cannot buy that item sitting on the shelf, like the sold stickers you see at furniture stores.

    • kerfuffle on 25/01/2021 - 07:43

      That definitely won't work in the likes of department stores

      • kyle on 25/01/2021 - 07:47

        I can only wish. But the computer can say no

  • gee-man on 25/01/2021 - 08:01

    Best to not assume too much, you know the old saying.

    I've worked for several large retailers on the IT side. A lot of businesses are still using stock management systems that are 10-20 years (or more!) old. Some are still running on Z-series mainframes, let that sink in.

    More than one major retailer I worked for only updated stock details to/from stores on a DAILY basis - yes, ONE time per DAY. And I'll bet you real money dollars that they're not the minority. Implementing a new system costs a lot of effort and disruption and training.. and all that costs money.

    A lot of C&C implementations I've seen try to work around this back-end limitation, piggybacking off the e-commerce platform, and tend to be held together with hopes and dreams and gaffer tape.

    It'll all catch up as IT systems & infrastructure ages out, but we're not there yet.

  • 400TX on 25/01/2021 - 08:03
    +1

    Everyone who is reasonable and worked in retail has already answered the question here many times over but I'd also add that sometimes the IT systems are shite as well. One retailer I worked at had an online e-commerce system (Magento) and an antiquated in-store POS system. When an online order came in (whether for post or C&C), that had to be manually processed and entered into the POS system, but before that, the online sales team had to call stores to check stock (a store showing 2 of a product in stock doesn't necessarily mean it's on the shelf). Then, if payment was via PayPal, that had to be reconciled with the Magento order and then processed as a POS order. Not ideal.

    We like to imagine all these shiny systems are nice and instant and integrated, but they're not—they're people sitting behind computers and at counters. That's why it takes time.

  • mincemeat on 25/01/2021 - 09:31

    Think of online /C&C as a different business to instore under the one retailer.

  • Luckyalways on 25/01/2021 - 09:41
    +1

    I assume its cos staff in the stores may have to walk around the store to find each item and the quantity requested. I saw an employee doing this at my local Coles store and she had to do it asap even though it left the other staff short handed in their section, because of the short click and collect deadline. She was being rushed cos she was needed back in her original section.

  • trankillity on 25/01/2021 - 20:43

    Often it's actually super restrictive POS and stock-keeping systems which prevent it. Most of the time businesses that are large chains have development teams that can develop for their websites, but the POS/stock systems are so locked down that they need to do all sorts of tricks to actually get the order processed as a transaction.

    An example of this is when I found out how MyPetWarehouse handled C&C orders. Because they can't talk directly with store POS for transaction/stock level data, they actually routed ALL C&C orders for a region through a single store (effectively a warehouse store). That store would then collect the orders, and put them in the truck to be manually driven to each of the independent stores in the region where the orders were placed. This occurred even if the store you ordered at already had the stock.

    So yeah, a lot of the time it's technology restrictions that cause inelegant solutions to what should be a seamless omni-channel experience.

  • bargain huntress on 04/02/2021 - 17:12

    i dont care how long it takes as long as they dont sell the stuff i have payed for to other people
    which always happens

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