“The need is there”

Moving in different sales channels is actually nothing new for the Swiss retail group Coop. But now the group is pushing the interlinking of e-commerce a decisive step further into a real omnichannel system.
Because in future, the group's various online shops will also be delivering orders to stores in other Coop sales channels. This also applies to the Coop Bau + Hobby DIY stores. Customers who have purchased a product in their online shop can pick up the goods, for example at a Coop supermarket - and vice versa.
After all, Coop operates almost 2 500 points of sale in Switzerland, including not only almost 900 supermarkets, but also several specialist store formats from city department stores to specialist electronics and lifestyle stores, right up to pharmacies. And of course, there are 74 DIY stores under the brand Coop Bau + Hobby plus ten supermarkets with combined large DIY retail space.
By the end of May 2017, the retail group had expanded its network of pick-up points from 600 to more than 1 100. According to the company, this is the densest network of collection points in Switzerland. Together with other sales formats, Coop Bau + Hobby is part of the first wave of this omnichannel offensive. The other shops are to follow by the end of the year.
For example, a customer sees a bike lock in a Coop Bau + Hobby online shop, but the next DIY store isn't on his way home, and he wants to pick up a bottle of wine and a salad from a Coop supermarket anyway. In this case, he can have the lock delivered to one of 320 Coop supermarkets for example, or to more pick-up points in other Coop group formats, and collect it from there.
All orders placed in the respective online shop by the afternoon are ready for collection at the chosen branch the next day from twelve o'clock onwards. Customers can check the status of their orders on the Internet at any time and, if they wish, can receive an SMS or e-mail notification when their delivery has arrived.

The background to this additional investment in the e-commerce infrastructure is the rapidly growing importance of online trade - also in the DIY industry. "Online sales increase every year in double-digit figures," explains Dr Christoph Theler, head of Bau + Hobby at the Coop headquarters. "We are very…