What Is Curbside Pickup?

Curbside pickup is a popular alternative to home delivery and in-store shopping that allows customers to order items online on a store’s website or app and pick up their orders outside the store. It has been practiced by businesses for almost a century and gained more traction in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Challenges of Curbside Pickup

When customers opt for curbside pickup, they usually have to park in the designated pickup area and wait for the merchant to put their orders into their cars. Curbside pickup can help businesses maximize online sales, save money on delivery, and manage their inventory better. Although it has many benefits, curbside pickup comes with significant challenges as well:

• Matching the right order with the right customer
• Preparing the orders in time for customer arrival
• Managing cross-store orders
• Identifying the customer upon arrival
• Reserving time slots for each customer
• Finding the easiest route planning software for curbside pickup

How Does Curbside Pickup Work?

Curbside pickup works on a simple principle: the customer orders products from the website of a store, restaurant, etc., pays for the order online, and drives to the curbside pickup point (usually the parking space of the business). Meanwhile, the merchant prepares and packs the ordered goods, and, when the customer arrives, loads the package in the customer’s car.

Curbside Pickup App

Curbside pickup apps help business owners and managers handle all incoming orders and speed up the curbside handoff process. The ideal curbside pickup app should:

• Notify you when your customers arrive to pick up orders
• Remind you which customers are waiting until you have confirmed the pickup
• Allow you to manage multiple pick-up locations in a single app
• Help you identify which order belongs to which customer
• Monitor customer arrivals so you can queue their orders