Rewind five years and click and collect was talked about as being a relatively untapped channel in hospitality, relative to high street retail, and one that could potentially be a goldmine of extra revenue.
In fact, in February 2019 GlobalData was predicting a 45.8% rise in the UK click and collect market, with its value set to reach £9.8bn. While that figure is representative of the entire retail channel, the prospects all looked rosy for the eating and drinking out market.
Many operators were already investing in the tech needed to offer customers the option to order their food from their phone and pick it up at a time that suited them. And then the pandemic struck, resulting in traditional sales channels becoming redundant and lesser ones, like click and collect, coming to the fore.
Alongside delivery, the trading restrictions seen over the past few years has been click and collect’s moment to shine. But have those sales held up? And are operators still as focused on this channel now full service has resumed?
Comparable data from Lumina Intelligence, which goes back to November 2020, shows that in the four weeks to 29 November 2020, click and collect occasions made up 14.9% of all eating and drinking out occasions on average, with average spend per visit of £10.81. This compared to in-store occasions making up 57.7% of all sales, with an average spend of £9.82. So not a small percentage of sales.
In the proceeding months the percentage of click and collect occasions increased to a peak of 16.1% for the four weeks to 21 March 2021, but then gradually declined, with its share of occasions now at its lowest point over the period, at 6.9% of occasions in the four weeks to 12 June 2022. However, average spend increased during that time and was £12.53 per visit in the latest four-week data period.
Katie Prowse, senior insight manager, Lumina Intelligence, says average spend per visit for click and collect is 6% higher on average, compared to in-store occasions, with more click and collect occasions coming from food-only orders.
“Dinner is the most popular day-part for click and collect orders, with a 46% share,” she notes. “Brunch and lunch occasions have increased in share of occasions (to 5.8% and 21.1& respectively) highlighting that the market is being fuelled by consumers out and about seeking quick, convenient and affordable meal solutions.”
In terms of the channel share of occasions, click and collect is most popular in QSR, with the channel making up 45.7% of all click and collect occasions, with 19.4% through the restaurant channel, 18.9% at coffee and sandwich shops and 10.9% at pubs and bars, for the 52 weeks ended 22 June 2022, according to data from Lumina.
The most popular brand to click and collect from is McDonald’s, with 14.1% of the brand share, in the 12 weeks to 22 June 2022, but this is a decline of 6.3ppts on the last quarter. Second most popular is Domino’s, with 5.7% of the share, followed by KFC at 4.5%.
Operator experience
Five Guys’ click and collect sales have “fallen off pretty steeply”, chief executive John Eckbert tells MCA. Although he says the brand still has a good customer base that prefers to order through that channel.
He says that while click and collect sales increased during the pandemic, its trading experience would suggest that most of those customers who have preferred to come in and have an eat-in experience.
Speaking about how the brand adapted during the pandemic, Eckbert says it used technology to track customers’ journeys to the restaurant so that it could prep the food and hand it over when they drove up. “And we still do that. There are people that still love that product and that way of ordering,” he adds.
PizzaExpress is another operator that invested heavily in its click and collect capabilities during pandemic and as an omnichannel hospitality brand it believes the channel is “incredibly important”, managing director Zoe Bowley tells MCA.
The channel was growing before the pandemic as demand grew for PizzaExpress products to be enjoyed at home, and remained available during the periods of lockdown, initially starting with a few key sites, with availability then built up across the entire estate.
With customers unable to dine in Bowley says there was naturally an increase in share of sales from click and collect, as well as delivery, with the business also taking the opportunity to make improvements to its operations in this area, and upweight its marketing support for these channels – and it continues to do so.
’There are lots of opportunities for growth’
The channel is still “a significant contributor to overall sales” and Bowley says PizzaExpress sees lots of opportunities for growth – “for example over the summer, and especially with the current hot weather, we’re talking to our customers about using click and collect for pizza in the park, or even on the beach,” she explains.
“Unsurprisingly, we have seen a rebalance of click and collect sales post-pandemic as some of these customers are choosing to enjoy lunch or dinner in our restaurants. However, our click and collect sales remain higher than pre-pandemic, reflecting the shift in consumer behaviour towards online ordering.”
PizzaExpress has recently introduced a new online ordering journey to make it simpler to order a collection, with customers able to order by logging in, or as a guest, speeding up the process.
“Soon, as part of our ongoing digital transformation, we will be looking to integrate our loyalty proposition, PizzaExpress Club, into the click and collect online ordering journey – offering an even better experience,” Bowley adds.
The channel also remains a significant focus for Fridays, and “a key part of our growth plans”, Robert Cook, chief executive, parent company Hostmore, tells MCA.
“During the pandemic lockdowns, when in-person dining and drinking wasn’t an option, it really took off. As you would expect, now that many have chosen to come back into our restaurants, volumes have fallen a little.”
That said the channel is definitely something it wants to maintain and grow as it looks to the future, he adds.
And it’s not just restaurants who are looking to embrace click and collect as part of an omnichannel brand experience. Greggs has been trialling the service for several years and has now rolled it out to its entire estate, and Itsu is looking to develop the online functionality around click and collect, as chief customer officer Neil Miller recently told MCA’s Hostech conference.
While sales through the click and collect channel have understandably dipped following their Covid boom, the service certainly remains a key pillar in brands’ omnichannel offering.
