Morrisons is to pilot the use of click & collect lockers that will allow shoppers to collect their online grocery orders without needing to interact with store staff.
The new purple lockers, which have developed by StrongPoint, will replace the existing click & collect bays at Morrisons’ supermarket in Skipton, North Yorkshire, one of its highest volume click & collect shops.
It means shoppers will no longer need to park in a designated click & collect bay, or wait for a store colleague to bring their order.
Morrisons believes that the technology will increase the availability of collection slots it can offer, allowing the supermarket to increase operating hours by two hours a day.
Shoppers would also benefit from increased convenience as they would be able to collect their deliveries as soon as they arrived, the supermarket said. Their groceries will arrive pre-packed in bags so they will not need to pack individual items themselves.
The lockers can hold up to three bags of ambient shopping. Meanwhile, smaller temperature-controlled lockers can hold up to two bags of frozen and chilled groceries. Shoppers can be assigned multiple compartments depending on the size of their order.
Staff will pack the lockers ahead of the designated delivery slot. The shopper then uses a unique six-digit code to collect their delivery.
If a shopper needs assistance, the terminals have been fitted with a ‘help’ button that alerts staff via their VoCoVo headsets. Staff will also be notified automatically if any of the items in the order require verification, and will need to manually approve the shopper before the locker opens.
“We know customers want click & collect to be quick, convenient and flexible, and our new locker solution is designed to be exactly that,” said Charlotte Exell, Morrisons group online director.
“By bringing StrongPoint’s proven technology to our stores, we can offer more collection slots while removing the wait for colleagues to bring orders to customers’ cars,” she added. “We’re excited to bring a simpler, more seamless click & collect experience to our Skipton customers.”
Parcel lockers an increasing presence in UK supermarkets
Collection lockers have been an increasing presence in supermarket car parks over the past couple of years, as grocers look to make their stores more convenient, and improve the number of services they offer.
However, the majority of the technology has so far largely been used for click & collect parcels, either with third parties like the Post Office or InPost, or for non-food items, rather than for grocery shopping.
Asda has been using temperature-controlled click & collect lockers for grocery collection since 2014. Both Waitrose and Sainsbury’s have also begun using temperature-controlled lockers that allow couriers to collect on-demand orders.
Morrisons is the first UK supermarket to adopt StrongPoint’s technology. It will use the single store trial to test and learn the proposition, before deciding whether to roll the proposition out further.
“We are extremely proud to be bringing Morrisons customers a faster, easier way to collect their shopping,” said Alex Eveleigh, StrongPoint senior UK vice president.
“Picking up from a grocery locker is the fastest way to collect a click & collect order, and it makes the service easier for retailers to run while giving customers more flexibility over when they collect. It’s a real win for both.”
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