Humbug! Stores should drop mean-spirited Click & Collect fees this Christmas

The home delivery expert ParcelHero says retailers should stop being Scrooges this Christmas and suspend their Click & Collect fees. It argues in-store Click & Collect is a key tool to encourage shoppers back to the High Street.

Charging for this service is pure penny-pinching, argues the courier price comparison site.

ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks M.I.L.T., said, ‘Retailers who continue to charge for pickups in their own stores are misguided. Our High Streets need as much encouragement as possible, particularly with consumer confidence so low.

Continuing to charge customers for the “privilege” of visiting stores to pick up an item they have already ordered seems at best arrogant and, at worst, downright foolhardy.

‘Retailers large and small are guilty of missing the bigger picture by charging their customers extra to pick up items they have pre-ordered online. They are losing out on vital footfall and any impulse buys customers may make on their way to the collection point. Some retailers’ Click & Collect charges can be quite significant, while others are so minimal that they beg the question, why bother?

‘While some retailers have seen the light and don’t charge people who come to their stores to collect items, others charge a pretty penny. Here’s a random selection of some of the UK’s favourite retailers’ Click & Collect in-store fees:

• House of Fraser: £4.99
• The White Company: £3.50 (free for orders over £50)
• Cotton Traders: £2.99 (free for orders over £35)
• John Lewis: £2.50 (free for orders over £30)
• Urban Outfitters: £2 (free for orders over £30)
• New Look: £1.99 (free for orders over £19.99)
• Next: 25p at peak periods, free at other times

‘Retailers use the phrase “BOPUS” to describe in-store pickups (Buy Online, Pick Up in Store). Some more enlightened retailers don’t charge any bogus BOPUS fees.

‘Here are a few that don’t charge for smaller items collection:

• Argos
• Currys
• Harvey Nichols
• M&S
• Pets at Home
• Selfridges
• Zara

‘Of course, many shoppers will want items they have purchased online delivered directly to their door. In the depths of winter, they may not want to brave the cold, especially with the added indignity of paying just to pick up an item. However, many ordering deadlines will be earlier than final store collection dates.’