By Aimee Chanthadavong
A Coles Express in Windsor, NSW is being used as a test site by the supermarket giant to allow customers to pick-up their online grocery orders from its petrol station.
This trial is part of Coles’ plan to extend its Click & Collect service that currently allows customers to collect their online orders at a time that is convenient for them in-store.
“It’s an extension of an existing offer we have called Click & Collect that operates at about 38 Coles stores around the country and they operate as pick stores for our Coles online business,” Jim Cooper, Coles spokesperson, told RetailBiz.
According to Cooper, this trial was launched after receiving feedback from customers who wanted the convenience of being able to pick up their groceries at other places rather than waiting for the deliveries to be made to their homes.
“Feedback from our customers indicated that they love the convenience and ordering their groceries online but are not necessarily at home to meet the delivery guy for an order,” he said.
“What they asked was to be able to order groceries online and pick-up it up by themselves. What we’ve done with the Coles Express store in Windsor is to see whether that concept has the potential to be rolled out at other sites other than other than our supermarkets,” he said.
As part of the service, fridge and freezers are located in the forecourt of the Windsor Coles Express where the groceries are kept.
“Customers can log on to Coles Online and if they wish to collect it from the Coles Express site they can make that selection,” Cooper said.
The trial has been running for just over a week but Cooper says it’s too early to tell whether the plan will be rolled-out nationally and the length of the trial has yet to be announced.
“It’s too early to tell but if we get a positive response then we’ll look at expanding it,” Cooper said.