eBay & Argos extend Click & Collect partnership

eBay and Argos are extending their Click & Collect partnership to all business sellers this summer.

eBay told us “Following a successful operational trial, agreement has been reached for the extension of the collection service in order to build and test the proposition on a commercial basis. This extension will enable shoppers to pick up millions of products sold by eligible business sellers from over 650 Argos stores throughout Great Britain”.

eBay will be communicating more details to eligible sellers later this summer, but anticipate that by the end of 2014 around 65,000 eBay sellers will offer items for collection at Argos, rising to 80,000 in 2015, with millions of items for sale. Customers will notice more listings becoming available for collection from more Argos stores starting in the late summer and continuing throughout the rest of the year.

Eligible eBay sellers are professional businesses trading on eBay, currently offering ‘Fast & Free’ shipping from designated carriers (Royal Mail; ParcelForce; DPD, Yodel and UPS). There are also some inventory restrictions, such as the size and weight of products, as the items need to be physically collected in store.

Should you offer CLick and Collect?

Yes! You can opt out if you wish but why would you? Customers appear to love to Click and Collect at Argos, and eBay say that they have had great feedback from the trial.

The shopper experience couldn’t be simpler – Buyers simply choose ‘Click and Collect at Argos’ as the delivery option in their eBay checkout and select their most convenient Argos store. Buyers receive a message when their item is ready for collection in their selected Argos store and proceed to a dedicated collection point in the store for fast and friendly service.

Plus it doesn’t cost you anything to offer the service – you’ve got to ship the products anyway and it’s just an alternative shipping address for the customer which eBay will present to you and will automatically appear in whichever third party channel management software solution you use. You just need to make sure you’ve specified item dimensions and use one of the designated carriers.

eBay & Argos Click and Collect Customer Experience

• Since the pilot launched, eBay have seen very positive customer feedback:
• Over 7 in 10 of customers rated the service as ‘excellent’ (9 or 10 out of 10)
• A clear majority (71%) of those who have used the eBay Click & Collect at Argos service and other click & collect services rate this it as one of the best available

Tanya Lawler, UK Vice President, eBay, said: “Retail has changed and shoppers are in the driving seat like never before. They want to shop anytime, anywhere, on any device and British shoppers love to Click & Collect. It’s a service being rapidly adopted by larger retailers and this partnership with Argos now gives tens of thousands of sellers the chance to capitalise on Click & Collect, even if they have no high street presence of their own.”

David Robinson, Chief Operating Officer, Argos is just as enthusiastic saying “I’m delighted the operational trial in a number of Argos stores around the UK has been successful. The next stage in the agreement is to have more sellers, more stores and more volume to assess how we can scale this partnership for the benefit of consumers, Argos and eBay. Fulfilment is the next retail battleground and Argos’ unique model is well placed to leverage this.”