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Can Drive-Thrus Work for Department Stores?

Written by Tom Ryan

Starting in January 2014, Selfridges will apparently become the first department store to offer drive-thru pickup.

The London-based luxury chain's drive-thru will allow customers to pull up to a reception area behind its Oxford Street location to collect purchases they've made online at Selfridges.com. Associates will bring the items straight to each car.

"There will be a dedicated area providing the level of service you would expect from Selfridges," Simon Forster, the company's multi-channel director told The Evening Standard. "It will not just be the first drive-thru service, it will be the best."

The option will only be available at the London location. It has three other stores in Birmingham, Manchester Trafford and Manchester Exchange Square.

Adding the service builds on robust online growth for Selfridges since launching e-commerce in 2009. A new "click and collect" service was recently introduced that already accounts for between 10 and 15 percent of online sales. Customers picking up orders gain 30 minutes of free parking but still have to enter the store to pick them up.

Selfridges will also be rolling out a text message service to ensure deliveries to home addresses are made only when someone is there to receive them.

While a common sight at fast food chains and banks, drive-thrus have been popping up at some c-stores, drug stores and coffee chains. In the U.K., Tesco has reportedly rolled out drive-thru pickup at about 150 stores and Waitrose and Asda are also testing the service.

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