Building on the shop online, pick-up local model rolled out by companies like Walmart and Amazon, Curbside now offers customers the option of drive-by pickups for internet orders.
Shoppers download a mobile shopping app to their phones and place their orders, which are delivered to local retailers. They can then drive to the store and park up outside, while members of staff bring their orders out to them.
The system launched in the Autumn and is rapidly gaining traction among leading stores in the San Francisco Bay area. 10 Target stores are on board and Best Buy has just signed a contract that will see a string of its stores trialling the model.
So far, Curbside’s prospects are looking positive. The company says that it takes hundreds of orders a day and 55% of its orders come from repeat customers, with parents of young children responding particularly warmly to the scheme.
Competitors are taking note. Walmart, which began piloting a similar system for e-commerce sales last year, now processes thousands of orders a week, according to Techcrunch.
Whitepapers
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