eBay and Argos extend ‘click & collect’ partnership
By Retail Technology | Thursday July 17 2014
The partnership was announced last Autumn and has expanded from 50 to 80,000 eBay sellers
The ‘click & collect’ service trialled by eBay and Argos since September of last year has been extended. The extension of this service will allow customers to select products from up to 65,000 eBay sellers for collection from around 650 Argos stores by the end of 2014. This number is expected to rise to 80,000 sellers in 2015.
The ‘click & collect’ partnership started with 50 eBay sellers offering a selected range of products for collection in 150 Argos stores. It’s understood the trial service proved successful operationally and popular with customers.
Popular with UK customers
“Customers want to shop anytime, anywhere, on any device and British shoppers love to Click & Collect,” commented Tanya Lawler, UK vice president at eBay. “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.”
Buyers can choose ‘click & 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. Eligible sellers will be enrolled in the service and simply need to prepare orders for dispatch as normal, with eBay’s technology taking care of the rest.
“I’m delighted the operational trial in a number of Argos stores around the UK has been successful,” commented David Robinson, chief operating officer at Argos. “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.”
