Since the Covid 19 pandemic, Click & Collect has experienced a significant upswing. Between 2017 and 2022, the number of online shoppers who buy retail goods online but then collect them offline more than doubled. The most common reason for Click & Collect is the secure availability of goods, with the avoidance of delivery fees (and return fees) already in second place.

In terms of spending, however, C & C is still in its "infancy," although the share of Click & Collect spending (of total online spending) in Austria is above the EU-27 average.

"More than one third of online shoppers:inside in Austria already use Click & Collect - more than twice as many as 5 years ago and an end is not foreseeable. Profiteer of this development is above all the domestic multi-channel trade, which can offer both purchase channels on-line & off-line to Konsument:innen , explains Dr. Ernst Gittenberger from the institute of retailing, sales and marketing (IHaM).

"The advantages of Click & Collect for Austrian multi-channel retailing are clear: no costs for last-mile deliveries, no costs for returns and the possibility to realize additional sales upon pick-up in the store," summarizes Univ.Prof. Dr. Christoph Teller, Institute Director of the Institute of Retailing, Sales and Marketing (IHaM).