Staff picking online orders in stores leads to customer dissatisfaction

Supermarket staff that pick out online orders in stores is leading to customer dissatisfaction, new research has revealed.

According to the latest data from retail automation and communication company Pricer, retail staff are facing an increasing array of tasks to perform which is creating friction for shoppers in-store.

Some of these responsibilities include the picking and packing of online orders, as well as managing click-and-collect order points all while continuing to serve in-store customers and deal with the day-to-day running of the store itself.

Of the 100 UK retailers analysed by Pricer, two fifths (39%) of retailers are now facing more pressure on the store to fulfil ecommerce orders, with a quarter (23%) of store staff polled saying they were having to perform more tasks to fulfil ecommerce orders in physical outlets.

Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free

Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning

Pricer also surveyed over 1,000 UK consumers, and discovered that a fifth (21%) felt they received lower levels of customer service in-store because staff were stretched sorting out online orders and collections. A further 21% said they had faced delays at the checkout because staff were fulfilling online orders rather than manning the tills.

A third (31%) complained that aisles were cluttered with trollies to fulfil online orders making it difficult for them to get the items they needed, while 20% said they had experiencing low product availability on shelves as store inventory had been used to fulfil online orders, meaning it was unavailable for store customers to buy, creating increased shelf gaps.

Around seven in ten (69%) consumers expect products to be available on shelf when they go into the store, and almost half (45%) would abandon their entire basket if an item was unavailable, while 63% would question their loyalty to a retailer if they regularly encountered out-of-stocks.

“Stores are having to fulfil a broader set of roles and needs as retailers digitalise their bricks-and-mortar networks to meet omnichannel demands,” country manager for UK & Ireland at Pricer, Peter Ward said.

He added: “That is throwing up conflicting operational priorities: on the one hand, store staff must serve digital orders, while on the other they need to ensure that customer service and the BAU of store operations run smoothly to ensure customer experience is upheld.

“Increasingly, as the number of ecommerce orders fulfilled from the store continue to grow, retailers are seeing the logic of keeping high-running, frequently bought items in a designated ecommerce picking area within the store, relieving store picking stress on customers and lowering ecommerce order picking times for store associates,” Ward commented.

Last month, it was revealed that Half of UK adults who reduced their meat intake (49%) are finding that a plant-based diet is more expensive than if they were to eat animal products, new data has revealed.