Amazon Introduces Same-Day Store Pickups To Lighten Local Businesses’ Load
Image via Jeramey Lende / Shutterstock.com
As part of Amazon’s Accelerate 2021 conference, the company announced the introduction of Amazon Local Selling, which spans services aimed at helping local businesses.
One of these is in-store pickup, allowing third-party sellers to direct customers to nearby physical retail stores to pick their purchases up, rather than having them delivered. This will be available at no extra cost, and customers may be able to get their order as soon as the same day they placed it.
Additionally, local delivery will see sellers using their own transport options to deliver the purchases to customers’ addresses. Other services, like assembly and installation, can also be bundled along with the purchase of the item, if the seller chooses to include this.
This means that delivery speed and cost of shipping will also be left to the sellers to decide, but Amazon states that a large number of its sellers will be able to promise one- or two-day local delivery without the customer having to pay extra.
Image via Amazon
“Amazon has been the foundation of our national online selling for years. Now we are bridging our online business with our in-person experience,” explains Bear Hendley, Manager of Walt’s Television, which was one of the companies that took part in a trial of the new service. “New local customers are finding us and giving us very positive feedback on the convenience of buying online and picking up at one of our locations.” This has reportedly marked a “significant increase” in sales for the company.
Some of the retailers that will be taking part in the Local Selling program include Sears Hometown Store, MODIA, Best Buy, and Appliance Connection.
Ever since the pandemic began, and customers have found themselves spending less time in physical stores, similar services have surged. According to figures from eMarketer, click-and-collect sales rose almost 107% year over year to US$72.5 billion in 2020 and are expected to keep growing.
“Sellers are actually using their own infrastructure for delivery” instead of relying on external shipping companies, reiterates director of Local Selling Pat Bigatel in an interview with CNBC. “The delivery promise, because it is local, is faster than something that is normally shipped from a seller on a nationwide level.”
Sellers can apply to join the program on Amazon’s merchant website, while customers can learn more about the new services here.
[via CNBC, images via Jeramey Lende / Shutterstock.com and Amazon]
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