The Drive allows you to save precious time, to keep an eye on your wallet so you can spend less and no longer be tempted by the superfluous by walking around the supermarket shelves. Ordering on the internet but without paying delivery fees, here are perhaps the keys to the success of the drive. This concept of mass distribution is simple and today, millions of French people no longer push their shopping carts in the aisles of supermarkets. With a single click, they make a list of their groceries and pick them up a few hours later in a store or warehouse without paying a penny more.
Avoid the chore of shopping
All the supermarket chains have created their service drive like the Leclerc store in St Pierre les elbeuf. The mass distribution had to adapt to this success and had to change its model. So why did the French adopt this mode of consumption so quickly?
Friday is the day when supermarkets welcome the most customers. They come to fill their cupboards and refrigerators before the weekend. For many French people, shopping is synonymous with drudgery. But the worst is the endless wait at the checkout and having to fill the bags, take the trolley to the car, empty the bags into the trunk, then go home, empty the bags out of the trunk and finally put away the groceries. In short, a time that is far too long for many customers. On average, a French person spends 50 minutes shopping.
The director of the E.Leclerc St Pierre les elbeuf explains that with the drive, you can save a lot of time by just getting out of your car. By ordering your items on the internet and coming to pick them up, you have access to thousands of items. The customer can retrieve his order placed on the internet a few hours before without paying a penny more.
Once you have chosen the company’s website, you have to register by giving your name and address, your email and you have to choose a password. By indicating your postcode, the website will choose the drive closest to you and this will become your default drive.
Each time you want to access the drive service, you will need to login with your username and password.
You can choose your products by browsing through the different sections of the website or by directly typing the desired product in the search bar. You can save pre-established shopping lists for your next orders.
Once your shopping is done, all you have to do is validate your order and choose the day and time you want to pick up your shopping.
Many customers use this service to order the shopping of heavy products such as milk, water, wine about once a month. All this is made possible thanks to order pickers who do the shopping in record time on behalf of the customers. The order picker has to be fast and very attentive.
Each product is stored in gigantic warehouses and is identified by barcodes, which can be identified by a log on the order picker’s arm. This machine is used to identify the products ordered.
A strategic location
The drives are installed on the way to and from work or on the edge of busy roads. This new way of consuming is attracting more and more households. Customers appreciate the fact that they do not spend too much time shopping. They also appreciate being able to do their shopping at any time thanks to the website and to be able to come and pick them up quickly. Checking their shopping cart in real time is also the advantage of the drive. The buyer would thus reduce his expenses by 2%. It also avoids impulse purchases, products that we do not necessarily need. But the big retailers are not afraid of the loss of earnings because they consider consumption at the drive as complementary to consumption in the store. The store remains associated and used as a need for pleasure, product discovery and family walks.
This is also very interesting for the retailers because a drive would cost 5 to 10 times less than a traditional store.
Large retail chains offer many guarantees to their customers. Indeed, they have the duty to control the cold chain from the beginning to the end of the order, from preparation to delivery, in order to respect the customers’ food safety.
They also apply an early withdrawal charter to guarantee optimal product quality.
They guarantee the confidentiality of payments on the website by securing each payment.
They have made a customer service department available to their customers to answer their questions. They offer exchange and refund for each product that does not bring complete satisfaction.
As you have understood, shopping online and picking them up at the drive saves precious time by avoiding the interminable wait at the checkout. The drive also allows you to benefit from a good visibility on the prices and allows you to keep control of your budget.
