Woolworth has launched the country’s first drive-thru supermarket at Woolworths Warringah Mall in Sydney that will allow customers to collect their shopping without leaving their car, free of extra charge.
Taking a step further from its current option of ‘click & collect’, the ‘click & collect drive-thru’ service allow customers to complete their order either via a smartphone or PC, select the drive-thru option and collect their groceries between 10am-7pm everyday by presenting identification at the drive-thru bay where an attendant will pack the shopping into the boot of car.
National online operations manager Brian Sturrock said based on the feedback of the ‘click & collect’ service, customers – in particular parents with small children – was asking for more flexibility around how and when they shop.
“The drive-thru service is another way we are offering our customers choice and the ability to tailor the shopping experience to suit their lifestyle, whether this means shopping in-store, getting your groceries delivered or picking them up from your local store.
“Woolworths ‘click & collect drive-thru’ will appeal to a broad range of customers; mums and dads who don’t want to unload the kids from the car when picking up their shopping and our time-poor customers who don’t want to spend time finding parking, going in-store or waiting for home delivery.”
According to Woolworths, this move is another way Woolworths Online is using innovation and technology to improve the customer shopping experience.
“Our customers love to embrace new technologies and services to help make their lif a little bit easier. Woolworths Online continues to go from strength to strength with mobile shopping and click & collect and we’re confident the drive-thru service will be just as popular,” Sturrock said.
As for whether there are plans to roll this program out to other Woolworth stores, a Woolworths spokesperson told RetailBiz that it "will gauge customer interest in the trial before announcing roll out plans".