M&S rolls out contactless click & collect trial to six further stores

M&S is rolling out its contactless click & collect option to an additional six branches this week.

The upmarket retailer is extending the trial to its Havant, Hampshire; Maidstone Eclipse, Kent; Pinner, Middlesex; Sevenoaks, Kent; Tolworth, Greater London and White City, West London branches in response to positive customer feedback at its other three pilot stores.

M&S said the newly added shops’ varied sizes are an important element of the initiative.

The trial comes in partnership with Doddle, which also enables M&S.com returns at 280 Simply Food stores.

Customers who use the contactless service receive an email when their package is ready for collection, which includes a link to book a time slot to pick up their order. This is done via dialogue with a chatbot through text messages, Whats App or Facebook Messenger, through which the chatbot confirms the time slot and the allocated location. Once shoppers arrive at the collection point, they can pick up their package friom their allocated shelf. 

It also is an extension of its complimentary click & collect offer, which is available at over 600 stores. It comes alongside the drive-through order collection service it is testing at its Camberley, Surrey branch, which allows shoppers to pick up their orders without leaving their car. The retailer said it has no plans to roll the drive-through offer out to other branches this side of Christmas.

“We’ve had great early feedback for our click & collect contactless trial with customers loving how it is speedy, safe, and convenient,” Neil Phillips, head of digital operations at M&S told the Grocer. “We’ll now be testing it out with customers in different sized stores and continuing to listen carefully to feedback.”

An M&S spokeswoman added its average customer rating on the service out of 10 has “consistently been above nine”.

The trials come as part of M&S’s Never the Same Again programme, which it has designed to help it step up its digital capabilities and make its store estate fit for the future.