Sainsbury’s launching 200 Click & Collect points

Sainsbury’s has announced that it will be opening up to 200 new Click & Collect points in its network of UK stores by the end of this year. Importantly, Sainsbury’s will be building on its recent acquisition of the Home Retail Group, as customers can also collect online Argos orders in 30 of the 200 Sainsbury’s stores (and one assumes that this proportion may increase overtime).

Furthermore, Argos has an exclusive Click & Collect partnership with eBay – and now eBay buyers will be able to collect their online purchases from all of the 200 Sainsbury’s Click & Collect stores too. Customers will also be able to pick up their DPD parcels.

“It’s an exciting time in retail,” according to John Rogers, Chief Executive of Sainsbury’s Argos. “As customer shopping habits change, people increasingly want flexibility, speed and choice both online and in-store. We are pleased to be bringing Argos’s products and services to Sainsbury’s customers via the new digital collection points, which are a demonstration of both businesses working closely together to bring benefits to customers at pace.”

As you would expect, eBay were also rather pleased that their arrangement with Argos has now broadened out into a parcel collection network that includes Sainsbury’s stores.

Tanya Lawler, UK Vice President, eBay, said: “Building upon our exclusive Click and Collect partnership with Argos, by establishing 200 further collection points in Sainsbury’s stores, means even greater choice and convenience for shoppers.”

When Sainsbury’s first revealed its intention to buy the Home Retail Group and the Argos chain, it emphasised the synergies that it believed would follow from a tie-up of the two delivery infrastructures. Today’s announcement is an important step in this process.

Turning a Sainsbury’s store into a place where customers can do their weekly shop, collect their Argos and eBay purchases and also pick up their DPD parcels will – the grocer is gambling – help to keep bricks and mortar superstores relevant in the digital age.