Tuesday, 19 March 2024
News

Ideas for better retail: Cargo bike collection, protecting your store and click & collect habits

Here at CI.N we often stumble across ideas and inspirations that don’t quite make the cut as standalone stories, but are worth sharing all the same. Here’s a handful of the tricks and tips we’ve gather this month:

Protect your image

You’ll know all to well how bikes can be awkward, cumbersome and occasionally heavy to handle. Now put yourselves in the customer’s shoes. They’re dragging in a bike with a buckled back wheel through a door not-quite a metre wide. They’ve probably rammed the door with the bike’s front wheel, or tried to fit through side-by-side. Calamitous.

So how can you protect your shop from the inevitable damage? Fit scuff guards and bumpers. You’ll have plenty of rubber off cuts kicking around the workshop, so upcycle. Line door frames and ensure that glass door isn’t cracked by fitting buffers. Sure, you’d like to meet every customer at the door and assist, but damage is inevitable and your shop’s presentation crucial. Try hauling a bike around your shop yourself and identify tight spots. There’s every chance your customer’s walking the isles with a hefty backpack on too. Do they have room to turn a full 360 without knocking bikes or wheels hung?

Click and Collect – know your audience

YouGov surveyed some 2,070 UK adults post Christmas on their festive period spending habits, revealing some very interesting detail for those either selling online or offering click and collect
Among the headline data, came these insights:

  • 35% of females and 18% of males used click and collect for festive shopping
  • 21% will use click and collect more next Christmas and 61% the same amount.
  • 19% gave their business to a competitor due to stock unavailability.
  • 78% of online Christmas shoppers said they will consider switching their business in future due to a poor online experience this year.
  • 39% of people used a click and collect service, with the avoidance of delivery charges the main reason for the uptake in the service.

Go for a ride, help a busy customer

We spotted during February a great new service launched by The Trailhead Bicycle Company in Shrewsbury and one which shop staff get to stretch their legs.

Now available to customers is a Surly Krampus and Bill trailer bike pick up, allowing customers within a five mile radius to call on the business to collect and deliver their service work. The service is free (generous!) and caters for a growing demographic of time pressed customers who simply need to book in a slot with the workshop. Furthermore, the shop’s recycling is now all carried for repurposing in this cargo bike.

Naturally, biscuit and beer tips are welcomed from customers.