France: Auchan & Casino: strategic developments in click & collect
Cdiscount and Monoprix offer convenience to urban consumers
Casino's Cdiscount e-commerce site has launched Pickup Station, allowing customers to collect orders from lockers at 100 SNCF train stations in the Paris region, within 24 hours of purchase. More than 1,000 of these will eventually be installed across France, boosting Cdiscount's 17,500-strong network of pick-up locations.
Casino's supermarket business, Monoprix, is also focusing on click and collect. Already available in around 100 stores, Monoprix's Click & Go allows customers to order and pay online, and collect in-store. Monoprix has launched an engaging YouTube campaign to promote the service, featuring a young shopper driving an imaginary car to collect his order.
Auchan brings click & collect in-store
Auchan is combining in-store shopping and click & collect with its new service called Mag&Drive, under test at its store in Faches-Thumesnil, close to Lille. Shoppers in-store add products to a virtual shopping basket using a scanner, pay at the checkout then collect them at the store's Drive site at the end of their shop.
The service currently covers 300 large or bulky products and may prove attractive to customers who cannot or do not wish to lift heavy items, and to those who perhaps prefer to shop in-store for other products, such as fresh. Auchan is one of the retailers at the forefront of online grocery retailing in France, with other innovations in 2014 including the walk-in Drive in Paris.
IGD's view
Click and collect services are working well in other markets as retailers ramp up their multichannel strategies, seeking to meet the needs of busy consumers and capitalise on changing shopping habits. As the 'home of the Drive format', France-based retailers have been at the forefront of its growth and evolution, and new solutions such as these - which are easy to integrate into shoppers' daily lives - will help Drive compete with bricks and mortar stores.
Source: igd.com
