ChannelAdvisor have announced full support for the Tesco marketplace, including the option for third party retailers to offer Click and Collect from the consumers local store. Tesco customers ordering from retailers on the Tesco marketplace will also earn Clubcard points on purchases from third party retailers.
The downside is of course that Tesco is a closed marketplace and only invited sellers can add their products to the Tesco Direct website. However it does show the importance of click and collect so it’s no wonder that eBay are to do the same starting with their trial of 150 Argos stores and 50 eBay merchants.
What’s not been talked about too much is that eBay retailers will also soon be able to offer click and collect in their own retail outlets. This is of course likely to be limited to retailers who have a large number of high street locations and again ChannelAdvisor is leading the way having already implemented Click and Collect on eBay for ToysRus in the states.
Buyers on eBay are able to select to pick up from their nearest store or to have the item shipped as normal.
Marshall Smith, ChannelAdvisor Technical Lead, eBay, explains “When a buyer selects to pick up their item in the store, the purchase is quickly transmitted to the store to ensure one is set aside for that buyer. Once the store confirms that an item has been set aside, the buyer is notified that their purchase is ready for them to come pick up. Even though the purchase was on eBay, the pickup process is exactly the same as the existing in- store pickup model used by the retailer. The buyer brings their purchase confirmation from eBay including any identifier defined by the retailer and collects their purchase“.
Although currently Click and Collect is a trial, both for ToysRus in the States and for Argos and the 50 selected retailers in the UK, expect to see the program ramped up after the holiday season. Click and Collect is here to stay and, unlike in many recent stories that have hit the press, for once eBay can’t be accused of killing the high street – they’re actually driving traffic into retailer’s bricks and mortar stores.
3 Responses
Hi Chris, Dan, All,
That’s quite a feat that ChannelAdvisor have managed to do as I’ve seen the API documentation for Tesco’s Marketplace and it was the most over complicated system I have ever seen (ever!!!).
With it being a closed marketplace, great effort, but most likely 95% of the small/medium business owners would never get invited, which is a pity 🙁
Nice one on eBay too, I was wondering what the “QuantitySoldByPickupInStore” attribute was doing in their API over the weekend, that explains it with the local pickups.
Matt