Waitrose is to launch temperature-controlled delivery lockers for click-and-collect customer‘s in-store and at remote locations.
The click and collect trial began in April in five branches – Cheltenham, Salisbury, Wolverhampton, Southend and Lincoln with the service set to be unveiled in full next year.
The service works when after a customer places an order online, they will receive a text message with a personal ID number to unlock a temperature controlled locker with their goods inside.
Robin Phillips, Waitrose director of ecommerce said: “The lockers will mean we will be able to reach shoppers who don‘t live near to a store and provide a convenient way for them to pick up their orders.”
He added that giving customers as many ways as possible to buy and collect their groceries on the move would be very important to building on the impressive growth seen at Waitrose.com.
“More and more people are adding an online shopping mission to their way of buying from Waitrose and we will continue to invest in making sure that we give them what they want, when they want it,” he added.
The delivery lockers are the latest move by Waitrose to invest in its online operations- which saw online orders increase by 68% this January.
Waitrose managing director Mark Price said in June that the grocer was building up its online infrastructure and that Waitrose had to add more vans and more capacity. He said the grocer has scouted a second online fulfilment centre in south London and is building capacity to service shoppers eager to buy from its website.
Price added: “A lot of our investment will be in dotcom.”
