Click & Collect has been part of the shopping experience for years, giving customers the option to order online and pick up in store rather than wait for home delivery. Retailers running Virtualstock can now extend that same option to their dropship and extended range assortment, so collection isn't limited to the products held in a warehouse or store.
Dropship and extended range items ship directly from a supplier rather than from retailer-held stock, which means getting one to a store for collection involves an extra layer of coordination between retailer, supplier, carrier and store.
Virtualstock's orchestration layer handles that coordination, so retailers can offer the same collection experience across a wider slice of their catalogue without adding a separate process for it.
From Supplier Direct to Store
When a customer selects Click & Collect on an eligible dropship item at checkout, Virtualstock routes the order from supplier to store and handles the event tracking along the way, including support for approved-courier arrangements where a retailer limits which carriers can deliver to their stores.
Customers see the same standard status updates they'd expect on any Click & Collect order: confirmation, dispatch and arrival in store.
More Products, More Reasons to Visit
More products eligible for collection means more flexibility for customers and more reasons to visit a store, without changing the experience they already know. For retailers running dropship or extended range programmes, it also makes onboarding new suppliers easier, particularly in categories where offering Click & Collect is expected or commercially important.
Getting Started
The first version enables Click & Collect on a retailer-by-retailer basis, using existing delivery services to differentiate collection from home delivery orders. Current customers can raise it in their next account conversation or QBR to talk through supplier and carrier readiness for their specific categories.