Life is busy and often time is of the essence. Customers’ demands for evermore convenience is no longer want, rather a need. And, for businesses to survive and stand out from the crowd, they need to adapt and grow in ways that meet these customer expectations.

Home delivery, drive-thru services and click and collect have become the norm, as more and more businesses have recognised the need to cater to consumers busy lifestyles and demands. However, there’s an additional dimension to on-demand delivery that many restaurants, stores and retailers are now offering to their customers, and that is curbside pickup.

Curbside pickup in a nutshell

Curbside pickup doesn’t reinvent the wheel, rather it merges the very best of online convenience and offline shopping experiences. Here’s what it looks like:

Customers order and pay for products online

  • They select ‘curbside pickup’ at the checkout
  • The restaurant/store/retailer informs the customer when their purchase is ready for collection
  • The customer travels to a nearby location 
  • The restaurant/store/retailer sends a member of their team to deliver to customer at their curbside location

With curbside pickup, customers can browse and shop online, and at the checkout, opt to collect their goods instead of choosing home delivery. You may be questioning how this is any different to what’s offered via a click and collect or BOPIS (buy-online-pickup-in-store) service. 

Well, the key difference is that curbside pickup allows customers to collect their order from a nearby location, instead of having to physically visit a store or restaurant. It’s a complete alternative to home delivery and store collection that offers a highly customisable level or consumer convenience.  

Where do curbside pickups take place?

Whilst curbside pickup is pretty much what it says on the tin, the nearby pickup location could be:

  • a side street
  • car park
  • the curbside outside of a store or restaurant 

It mimics what a drive-thru service offers, in the way that customers pass through and collect their prepaid order without having to leave their car. However, with curbside collection, there's no need for a physical, permanent drive-thru space. Instead, it's all about making use of convenient stop-off points within the nearby radius of an establishment.  

The whole idea is to serve customers on the move and seamlessly integrate the pickup around their schedule. It’s a solution that also works for customers travelling on foot or pushbike too, and therefore is ideal for businesses located within busy inner cities as well as suburban and rural areas.

Curbside pickup is:

  • ‍Fast - there’s no instore queuing, no waiting in a drive-thru lane - customers can collect online orders on-route without going out of their way or even leaving their car.
  • Convenient - the collection takes place in a location that works for the businesses and the customer.
  • Flexible - it offers customers more choice when it comes to choosing how they shop and when they receive their purchased items.
  • Cost-effective - businesses don’t need to invest heavily in drive-thru facilities or delivery fleets - curbside works for small and large-scale businesses alike.
  • The best of both - the perfect amalgamation between online convenience facilitated by technology and offline shopping experiences provided by real people.
  • Supported - Google are now actively supporting businesses, enabling free promotion of curbside pickup in local inventory ads.
  • Here to stay - it’s risen in popularity and become a real game-changer for businesses looking to branch out and provide safe and convenient collection services.
  • Ideal for a range of establishments - it's an on-demand delivery model that works for restaurants, cafes, pubs, dark kitchens, grocery stores, supermarkets and retailers.
‍Interested to know more about how iAmHere can support your curbside pickup service?
‍Contact us for information about our solutions. 

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