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In Part Two in our series on the rise of Click & Collect, we look at innovative ways businesses are using beacons and location technology to streamline the staff activity around the collection process, reducing wait times and freeing staff from the collection desk.
With the continuing popularity of Click & Collect services, retailers are looking for innovative ways to streamline the back of house process, and reduce wait times for customers.
Working with John Lewis after winning JLab 2014, Localz developed a Click & Collect solution, which uses beacons to notify the customer that they have a package to collect, and to notify staff to prepare the package for collection.
Using this solution, Woolworths Australia worked with Localz to reduce average collection times in their Click & Collect service from 15 minutes to 7 mins 38 seconds. This was measured for over 2000 orders, I’m sure we don’t need to do the maths on the cost savings here for you - the benefits are obvious.
The Localz Click & Collect solution works in three steps:
Step 1: The customer receives a notification as they approach the store, asking if they would like to collect their package.
Step 2: Once the customer has clicked ‘yes’, staff are notified via a wearable device, to pick the order and send to collection desk.
Step 3: The customer collects the package, which is there waiting for them at the desk when they arrive.
Not only does this process reduce the collection time, it also frees the staff member from the collection desk. This means staff can be carrying out other tasks whilst waiting for a notification to come through, providing additional efficiency gains. For Woolworths, the average time between a customer requesting a pickup and a store attendant actioning the request was just 40 seconds.
The additional innovation of staff using wearable devices, such as an Apple Watch or an Android Watch, mean that staff can easily carry out their day-to-day work, such as stocking shelves, without being encumbered by carrying a handheld device. An alert can continue to alarm every minute until an employee accepts the delivery notification and prepares the items.
The same device can be used to send staff additional information, such as tracking details, package number and product location in back of house – further streamlining processes. Staff can stay on track by providing them with a timer, showing how long they have spent to accept the job and deliver the package to the Click & Collect counter.
Employees at the collection counter can verify the customer’s identity and shopping details. Once the customer has collected their item, employees will then mark the item as ‘collected’ prompting a notification to be sent to the customer’s device.
The fastest collection Localz has enabled with this process, is 15 seconds.
It is possible to deliver a seamless Click & Collect process, whilst at the same time freeing staff from the collection desk, and making their job easier and more efficient. The latest in beacon and location technology, combined with the innovation in wearable devices, makes this a reality.
Read more about Woolworths Australia's plans to improve click-and-collect customer service here.