Waitrose has expanded its partnership with UK garden centre group Dobbies, introducing a click-and-collect trial offering next day collections.
The trial will build on the existing relationship between Dobbies and the John Lewis Partnership after it was announced in July that Waitrose would have a dedicated area offering more than 2,000 products in 50 of the garden centre’s foodhalls.
The new trial will mean John Lewis and Waitrose click-and-collect orders can now be picked up from Dobbies stores in Aberdeen, Huntingdon and Gillingham. Collection is free of charge for orders over £30 and there is free collection for any order up until 19 October.
Waitrose customers will be able to collect their parcels from the next day.
John Lewis’ director of supply chain planning and development, Ged Keogh-Peters, said: “The introduction of click-and-collect further strengthens our partnership with Dobbies and underlines our ambition to find new ways to be more convenient for our customers.
“The service is growing in popularity every year with customers increasingly wanting the ease of being able to pick up their order at a time and place which works for them. The success of this trial would present the opportunity to roll out the service to more centres.”
Dobbies ceo Graeme Jenkins said the garden centre was “committed to providing convenience to our customers and this new collaboration enables us to further develop this focus. It’s important that we share a commitment to great value, quality and customer service with our partners.”
Dobbies is the latest retailer to join the existing network of over 350 John Lewis and Waitrose click-and-collect points, along with over 800 Co-op, Shell and Booths locations.
The Waitrose foodhall roll out has already been launched in the Dobbies stores in Edinburgh, Brighton, Atherstone and Dunfermline.
