John Lewis to charge for Click & Collect
John Lewis announced this week that it would start charging a £2 fee for click-and-collect purchases costing less than £30, after finding that its current free model was unsustainable.
Click-and-collect demand has boomed for the department store. It now processes more than six million click-and-collect orders per year, compared with just 350,000 in 2008, and moves tens of thousands of parcels every night.
A spokeswoman said John Lewis had seen a 32% growth in demand for the service so far this year. And the seemingly effortless method of shopping is anything but for retailers as it needs an army of behind-the-scenes pickers and delivery staff.
I'm concerned for smaller retailers who can't cover free delivery and can't offer Click & Collect, but this is good news. If the larger retailers decide they're no longer going to suck these costs up, that should make the smaller retailers more competitive.