Home improvement giant B&Q has unveiled a groundbreaking new service that allows customers to collect online marketplace orders from its stores as early as the next day.
The innovative click-and-collect feature is currently being piloted at B&Q’s Fareham store in Hampshire. If successful, the service will be rolled out gradually across 300 stores nationwide.
B&Q’s online marketplace, which boasts over 2 million products from 2,000 third-party sellers, is a major part of the retailer’s digital expansion strategy. Around 10% of sellers are participating in the initial phase of the trial.
The new service is designed to offer greater flexibility, speed, and convenience to shoppers, enabling them to consolidate online marketplace purchases with in-store shopping. Customers browsing diy.com will now see a click-and-collect option for eligible items sold by third-party vendors. Once the order is placed, customers can choose a preferred store and will be notified when their items are ready for pick-up from the designated collection area.
The click-and-collect service builds on B&Q’s existing return-to-store offering, where customers can return marketplace purchases directly to physical locations.
Aime Matondo Fundani, B&Q’s Director of Marketplace, called the initiative a “unique value proposition” and extremely important to the company’s wider digital strategy. While not all products will be available for next-day collection at launch, Fundani said several sellers are already able to meet that expectation.
She continue: “Around 90% of our customers begin their shopping experience on the web, and we’re seeing strong conversion of digital customers into store footfall as a result.”
If successful, the new service could reshape the way UK shoppers engage with online marketplaces - blending the convenience of e-commerce with the reliability of in-store pickup.
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