Click-and-collect worth over 42 billion pounds in the UK this year

The click-and-collect economy will be worth 42 billion pounds in 2022 in the UK, representing 8.4 percent of the country’s total retail spending, according to research from Barclays Corporate Banking.

The study ‘What’s in store for retail?,’ focused on retail businesses with more than ten employees, found that ‘hybrid’ shopping, which involves both physical and digital interactions, is on the rise, and that the need to integrate digital and in-store is fast becoming a standard industry expectation.

Click-and-collect, where goods are bought online but picked up from a physical store, now accounts for 40 percent of sales for retailers who offer the service, up from 37 percent a year ago, added the research. While over two-fifths (41 percent) of physical stores in the UK are now used as click-and-collect locations, with the same amount (41 percent) being used to process returns.

The popularity of click-and-collect grew during the pandemic, explained Barclays, however, unlike pure online sales which peaked during that period, it has continued to grow post the lifting of lockdown restrictions, indicating that click-and-collect is a consumer behaviour that is here to stay.

Its data found that online and physical retail sales channels are becoming “more intertwined,” as consumers like to research products online and in-store in equal measure across several products, including homewares (34 percent), fashion (33 percent), accessories (31 percent) and garden products (28 percent).

‘Hybrid’ shopping continues to grow as consumer's habits involve both physical and digital interactions

The research also added that having both an online and physical presence can be advantageous for a retailer’s appeal, as a quarter (24 percent) of consumers say they can be hesitant when buying from online-only brands, a figure which drops to just over one in ten (13 percent) when businesses also have physical stores.

The bank also found that the click-and-collect economy also supports 184,000 jobs across the industry, which equates to 7.4 percent of the total workforce.

Karen Johnson, head of retail and wholesale, at Barclays Corporate Banking, said in a statement: “Perhaps more than any other sector over the past two years, retail has been forced into a period of accelerated evolution. The pandemic drove everyone online, and now the rising cost-of-living is increasing business outgoings while reducing consumer spending.

“Encouragingly for the UK’s retail sector, however, businesses are adapting their sales models to weather these financial storms as effectively as possible. Links between digital and physical shopping are being evolved, which are opening up new opportunities and ways to generate income.”

Physical stores still vital for retail success

Despite the popularity of online shopping, there is still big support for high streets, added Barclays. When asked whether there is a future for physical retail space, 67 percent of consumers surveyed agreed that there is, while 32 percent strongly agreed. However, there is a clear demographic split in the data, as only 54 percent of 16–24-year-olds believe in the future of the physical store, compared with almost 74 percent of over 55’s.

While almost nine in ten (88 percent) retailers feel that operating a physical store is vital to their business success, many have re-evaluated where their stores are based, to make sure they occupy the most appealing destinations for consumers. Two in five (41 percent) have also reduced the number of stores they have in city centres, while 32 percent have increased their presence in retail parks.