Click and collect enables customers to buy online and pick up their items in-store at their convenience instead of waiting for delivery. The service soared in popularity during Covid‑19 when people sought faster and safer shopping methods. Today, click and collect is firmly embedded as a hybrid retail channel offering both convenience to consumers and long‑term commercial advantages to businesses.
Globally, the share of online orders purchased via click and collect has grown steadily in recent years. In the UK, click and collect is set to account for nearly 18% of all eCommerce sales by 2025. Before the pandemic, click and collect only accounted for 8.7% of eCommerce sales in 2019, which has been steadily increasing since Covid-19. Meanwhile, the value of click and collect orders in 2025 has increased to GBP 32.73 billion, up from GBP 29.53 billion in 2024, a rise of approximately 10.8% in the UK.
This fulfilment model is used extensively across several UK sectors. In fashion and footwear, it accounts for roughly one third of cannibalised online sales. Barclays research in 2022 found that retailers offering the service allocate 40% of their online sales to click and collect orders, especially in fashion (33%), homewares (34%) and garden products (28%). The health and beauty sector also shows strong growth in click and collect usage, while supermarkets and grocery retailers continue to invest in it.
How does click and collect work?
Click and collect, also known as buy‑online‑pick‑up‑in‑store (BOPIS), means customers can ‘click’ to buy goods online and ‘collect’ in-store at their convenience by picking up their items instead of having them delivered at home. At checkout, shoppers are typically given two fulfilment options: “home delivery” or “click and collect”. When choosing click and collect, customers select a convenient store location and a preferred time slot for collection.
After payment, they receive a confirmation, usually by email, with collection details, such as a reference code or collection point location. In some cases, customers may need to show ID or the original payment method when collecting their order. Behind the scenes, the retailer processes the order as usual but ships it to a designated in-store area for collection at the selected time.
History of click and collect
Click and collect has its roots in early multichannel retail strategies, where retailers began experimenting with ways to connect their online and physical shopping experiences. The concept started to gain traction in the late 2000s, particularly among UK high street retailers who recognised an opportunity to use their store networks as fulfilment hubs.
The term “click and collect” was first coined by British retailer Argos, which already offered phone and SMS-based services called “ring and reserve” and “text and take home”. These allowed customers to reserve items remotely and pay in store. Following this catchy naming approach, the retailer needed a term for its new online ordering service and came up with “click and collect” to describe the process of buying online and collecting in store.
Major UK retailers such as John Lewis and Tesco were among the first to offer click and collect at scale, allowing customers to reserve or purchase items online and collect them from their local store, often the same day. This approach helped businesses reduce delivery costs and improve stock efficiency while offering shoppers more flexibility and control.
The Covid-19 pandemic marked a turning point. With lockdowns and social distancing in place, click and collect became a vital way for consumers to access goods safely while avoiding delivery delays. Many retailers adapted quickly, introducing curbside pickup, dedicated collection points and contactless handovers.
In a 2023 survey by DPD, 9% of British consumers said that the availability of click and collect influences their purchasing decisions. What began as a convenience has since become a standard fulfilment method, blending the speed of online shopping with the flexibility of in-store pickup. Today, click and collect is firmly embedded in customer expectations, especially for those seeking greater control over how and when they receive their orders.
Benefits of having click and collect as an option
Offering click and collect as part of your fulfilment strategy can deliver significant advantages for both your business and your customers.
1. Increased convenience for shoppers
Click and collect offers customers greater control over how and when they receive their orders. It eliminates the need to wait at home for deliveries and allows them to collect purchases at a time that suits their schedule. This flexibility is especially appealing to busy urban consumers and commuters. Looking at British click and collect consumers, 48% of them live in large cities, cities with over 1 million inhabitants or megacities with over 5 million inhabitants. Customers appreciate having more choice and flexibility and are more likely to return when they feel their needs are being met efficiently.
2. Faster order fulfilment
Many click and collect orders are available for same-day or next-day pickup. This allows retailers to compete with the speed of express delivery while using their existing store infrastructure. According to YouGov, 24% of customers use online services less regularly when faced with difficulties booking delivery slots. Therefore, offering click and collect as an option can be attractive to customers who need their goods in a short period of time.
3. Drives in-store footfall and cross-selling opportunities
When customers come in to collect their orders, there’s a strong chance they’ll browse and make additional purchases. This behaviour helps increase average order value, as customers often make impulse purchases while in store. It also allows retailers to engage with customers directly, offering personalised service, upselling or promoting in-store offers, interactions that may be more challenging through online-only channels.
4. Lower delivery and logistics costs
By allowing customers to pick up their orders in store, retailers can avoid the expenses tied to last-mile delivery, the most costly and complex part of the shipping process. This not only cuts down on courier fees and packaging costs but also reduces reliance on external delivery services. During busy periods like Christmas or Black Friday, when courier networks are often overwhelmed, click and collect helps ease the strain by diverting a portion of orders away from those congested channels. It can also reduce the number of missed deliveries and returns. This can result in faster fulfilment and a more reliable customer experience.
5. Streamlined inventory and store utilisation
Retailers can optimise stock management by fulfilling online orders from local store inventory, making better use of existing resources. This also enables retailers with multiple brick and mortar stores to shift stock between stores based on demand, reducing overstock in some locations and shortages in others. By fulfilling online orders from nearby stores, retailers can better balance inventory levels across their network and avoid unnecessary warehouse transfers.
Who is click and collect for?
One of the most visible click and collect success stories is Greggs, the UK’s leading bakery chain with over 2,000 outlets nationwide. In 2020, Greggs launched its click and collect service across 1,600 stores, giving customers a convenient way to pre-order their favourites online.
By 2025, click and collect has become a core part of Greggs’ customer experience, used widely by commuters, lunchtime crowds and regular visitors.
But click and collect is not just for national chains. Small and medium-sized businesses across the UK are finding creative ways to implement it. While considerations such as stock management, staffing and store layout are important, the potential benefits often outweigh the initial setup costs.
When deciding whether to add click and collect to your retail offering, factors like business size, sector and logistics capability all come into play. Although large retailers gain attention for their extensive click and collect offerings, the model can deliver real value for businesses across various sectors.
So, who is click and collect best suited for in 2025?
Food and drink
Quick service restaurants, independent takeaways and cafes are natural candidates for click and collect. Many now offer it through their websites or mobile apps, allowing customers to order ahead and skip the queue. This model not only improves speed and convenience for customers but also helps manage peak-time demand more efficiently. The UK’s food-to-go sector alone was worth over GBP 8.3 billion in 2024, with click and collect playing a major role in this growth.
Grocery
The grocery sector was one of the earliest adopters of click and collect and remains one of the fastest-growing areas for its use. The European click and collect grocery market is experiencing rapid growth, projected to surge from USD 46.5 billion in 2024 to over USD 276 billion by 2033. As supermarkets continue to invest in convenient pickup points and app integrations, click and collect is becoming a default option for busy shoppers.
Fashion and footwear
Fashion and footwear remain among the strongest performing sectors for click and collect in the UK. Shoppers in this category often prefer to collect in-store to try items on, check sizing or make immediate returns, making the flexibility of click and collect especially appealing.
According to research, 33% of online fashion sales in the UK are now fulfilled through click and collect. For retailers, it offers an opportunity to reduce return costs, drive in-store footfall and encourage additional purchases at the point of collection.
Unexpected sectors
Click and collect has found a place in industries you might not expect. Today, it is being embraced by a wide range of industries that may not have historically offered such services. From books and DIY to public services and community initiatives, the model is proving to be both adaptable and commercially viable.
According to Statista, 68% of book retailers in Europe offer click and collect, the highest among all sectors surveyed. This is followed by DIY and trade retailers (62%) and supermarkets (58%). Even sectors such as cosmetics (56%), multi-sector retail (54%) and sports and leisure (52%) have significant adoption levels.
Furthermore, 49% of consumer electronics retailers now offer click and collect, reinforcing how widespread the model has become, even in sectors where in-person browsing and technical advice are often part of the journey.
Public services have also found ways to integrate click and collect. Libraries adopted the model to enable contactless lending, a practice that remains in place in many regions today. Car dealerships offer it for spare parts or paperwork collection, while local councils use it for document handover and scheduled permit pickups.
In short, click and collect is a highly adaptable service. Whether your goal is to reduce delivery costs, improve the customer experience or increase foot traffic, it can offer lasting value across many sectors and business sizes.
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