Warehouse opens dedicated online pick-up store

The Warehouse [NZX:WHS] has today opened a Red Shed store in central Auckland specifically for collecting purchases made through the warehouse.co.nz.

The “click and collect” Customs St store is a pop up store and is only 30sq m and holds no inventory but is just downstairs from the chain's cavernous store in the Downtown shopping centre.

Customers shopping online can select it as their pickup location. Alternatively, customers can shop at the store using the “endless aisles” service, where they can use kiosks to order products.

The listed company says the store is a test to learn what works best for customers, before considering opening similar stores at other sites.

Chief digital officer Craig Jordan says home delivery is available for all online purchases but this didn’t suit everybody.

“If you’re at home in the evening but work in the city, you can shop after work, knowing you can pick up from Customs St the next day during a break from work.

“Click and collect is proving very popular among our customers, as they enjoy the convenience of being able to pop into a store or pick-up point, grab their order and keep moving.”

Last Friday chief executive Mark Powell said approximately 70% of online sales are home deliveries, 20% come from click and collect and the remaining 10% come from endless aisles kiosks.

The retailer revealed its sales from online to be $149.2 million for the past financial year, up from $18.8 million in 2011.

It said this was due to a combination of organic growth and acquisitions such as Torpedo 7, Shotgun Supplements and Noel Leeming.

“Our ability to integrate a ‘bricks and clicks’ multichannel offer is a competitive advantage, especially given the size of our physical distribution network,” Mr Powell said.

The group says it consistently has one million unique browsers visiting its sites each month and traffic from mobile devices is often 50%, peaking at 70%.

A "refresh" programme involving the acquisitions, online development and the turnaround of the Warehouse Stationery stores has cost the company $100 million over the past few years.

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