Ominchannel Services
Article from MHI Solutions Magazine
In 2020, about 40% of Americans tried an online grocery service, resulting in a year-over-year increase of 193%. While not all these customers kept shopping this way, many people did. Consequently, omnichannel services, such as click-and-collect, buy-online, pickup-in-store (BOPIS) and home delivery are demanded at higher rates than before the COVID-19 pandemic, and their popularity is expected to continue to rise.
Such omnichannel services shift order fulfillment, previously completed by the shoppers themselves, to retailers. Retailers have deployed different distribution strategies in their support of omnichannel services, with the most common being store fulfillment, where online orders are fulfilled from inventory on store shelves; and microfulfillment, where smaller, typically highly automated distribution centers are added nearby customers. Regardless of strategy, retailers are struggling to find a cost-effective solution.
Even without last mile delivery responsibilities, and even after charging a service fee, many grocery stores incur negative margins for their curbside pickup services. As order fulfillment is currently a labor-intensive process, the rising labor cost as well as the current and projected labor shortages present further challenges. Thus, at least with today’s current material handling offerings, retailers should let shoppers shop…
