Dive Brief:
- To make online order pickup smoother, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has added alternate pickup locations in the U.S. at companies like FedEx, Office Depot and Walgreens, the company announced on Thursday.
- The company will now let online shoppers select one of the roughly 12,000 locations nationwide as their desired pickup location while purchasing their order online and will notify them once their order is ready for pickup.
- The company is offering this option alongside its other fulfillment options, including buy online, pick up in store, curbside pickup, reserve in-store, ship from store and home delivery.
Dive Insight:
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. now has about 730 stores worldwide, but the company’s partnerships with alternate pickup places expand order pickup to far more locations than its store fleet. The move is part of its effort to improve its fulfillment capabilities and serve customers wherever they prefer to pick up their purchases, the company said in a press release.
"We take a lot of pride in meeting our customers where they are and strive to execute a seamless delivery experience. These new alternate pickup points are another great option for anyone seeking convenient, efficient and secure product delivery," Larry Grischow, executive vice president of supply chain and procurement at Abercrombie & Fitch Co., said in a statement.
Abercrombie & Fitch is among other brands that have implemented options like BOPIS into their operations to serve customers better, but doing so can be costly for retailers and requires the right technology to execute seamlessly. The holidays are a popular time to roll out convenient delivery and pickup services: Five Below just last month introduced a buy online, pick up in store service after partnering with Instacart to provide customers with same-day delivery in 2020.
In addition to improving its omnichannel offerings, Abercrombie & Fitch has also been experimenting with its in-store strategy. In August, the retailer unveiled a new store concept with a hotel lobby aesthetic.
The alternate pickup options and store experimentation come as the company is looking to drive revenue growth in the coming years, in part thanks to a “digital revolution” across the business. During its Investor Day event in June, the company said it aims to reach an annual revenue of between $4.1 billion and $4.3 billion, and an annual operating margin rate of 8% or more.
