September 10, 2009
British retailer Halfords launched a "reserve and collect" feature on its web site last year, and it appears to be clicking with customers: The company recently announced that it has surpassed the one million mark for online reservation/in-store pickup orders.
A report from Econsultancy says the company's multi-channel revenues grew by 90 percent in the first quarter of 2009.
This suggests that, though multichannel integration can be highly challenging for retailers, as joining up online and offline to provide accurate information on stock levels requires a lot of effort, such investments can drive significant numbers of offline sales.