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The Pick Up Area Trend

Posted: January 13th, 2019, 6:37 am
by cjd
I've been noticing many retailers are starting the pickup area trend. Lowes a while ago put designated parking areas for merchandise pickup and also has a desk right near the front door for this.

I stopped at the mall yesterday and noticed even Belk has put up an easel designating one of their outside entrances as the online pickup entrance.

And Walmart has a lot of ads online for this and they too have a designated pickup parking near the grocery entrance.

Re: The Pick Up Area Trend

Posted: January 13th, 2019, 8:21 am
by J-Man
In my opinion, Target (at least in my area) is going about this in a very wrong way. They have a number of parking spaces dedicated to the drive-up pick-up (where an employee brings your order out to the car), but it's ONLY available for purchases made through the Target app -- not regular online orders. I don't understand the logic behind this at all.

Re: The Pick Up Area Trend

Posted: January 13th, 2019, 10:06 am
by arizonaguy
None of the Targets in my area have any pick-up areas (nor have they been remodeled). So any Target pick-ups I've done are at the customer service counter.

Walmart and Fry's have designated pickup areas where employees carry items into the cars for their grocery pickup options (although Walmart's general merchandise pickup works like Target's where one has to go into the store to pick up those items).

Sam's Club also has a club pickup option where you have to go into the store and pick up a basket(s) with your order but you can load your items in an awning adjacent to the entrance of the building.

Re: The Pick Up Area Trend

Posted: January 13th, 2019, 5:30 pm
by storewanderer
arizonaguy wrote: January 13th, 2019, 10:06 am

(although Walmart's general merchandise pickup works like Target's where one has to go into the store to pick up those items).
I don't understand this at all. Also if you go to grocery.walmart.com it does not have all of the same items even in grocery categories as the regular Walmart.com has. Sometimes, the prices are also different. It is like they are running two different .com fulfillment operations out of the same stores... I do not understand this.

Re: The Pick Up Area Trend

Posted: January 13th, 2019, 10:42 pm
by arizonaguy
storewanderer wrote: January 13th, 2019, 5:30 pm
arizonaguy wrote: January 13th, 2019, 10:06 am

(although Walmart's general merchandise pickup works like Target's where one has to go into the store to pick up those items).
I don't understand this at all. Also if you go to grocery.walmart.com it does not have all of the same items even in grocery categories as the regular Walmart.com has. Sometimes, the prices are also different. It is like they are running two different .com fulfillment operations out of the same stores... I do not understand this.
I believe that grocery.walmart.com is Walmart's version of Amazon PrimeNow which is a totally separate operation than regular Amazon or Amazon Prime.

I think that the Amazon situation is somewhat confusing and the Walmart even more so because they have physical stores on a totally separate pricing scheme.