Fostering Customer Adoption of Curbside Pick-up Service: An Abstract

Brick-and-mortar retailers are facing increased pressure to innovate to remain competitive against online retailers. In recent years, brick-and-mortar retailers have implemented the addition of curbside service, which allows customers to order ahead and pick up their items without leaving their cars ("click and collect”). While curbside pick-up service has surged 208% during the COVID-19 pandemic (Thomas 2020), it is unclear whether the service will persist in a post-pandemic world. Little empirical research has examined curbside pick-up antecedents or customer behaviors, despite investigations into curbside pick-up being an important issue for marketers (Grewal et al. 2021). This research explores the interplay between customer perceptions of curbside pick-up, time saved by customers, and downstream financial consequences for firms that provide curbside pick-up. Drawing upon the planning fallacy (Kahneman & Tversky 1977), which explains how people underestimate the length of time a task will take to complete, two studies test outcomes at both the firm and customer level. Study 1, an experimental design, examines the impact of itemized versus grouping time saving perceptions for consumers. This study shows that when firms "unpack” the amount of time saved by curbside service, then the perceived value is differentially higher than when time savings are grouped together. Study 2 uses data from a large retailer in the Midwest area of the United States. In Study 2, the authors show that the introduction of curbside service increases the repurchase time for consumers initially, but over time these effects diminish. Overall, the results of these studies show that offering curbside pick-up increases repurchase time for customers, that customers cannot accurately judge how valuable curbside pick-up will be to them, and that firms can convey the value of curbside pick-up via "unpacking" (i.e., itemizing) potential time savings. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Strategic responses to the pandemic: a case study of the US department store industry

PurposeThe study focuses on (1) the success of three strategies employed during the pandemic – two "persevering” strategies, curbside pickup and return window extension and one innovative strategy, virtual try-on technology and (2) whether the strategies are likely to be successful in the post-pandemic world.Design/methodology/approachThe authors utilize a panel dataset containing 17 department store chains in the US The panel includes weekly sales by the retailers at the city level from 2018 to 2021, encompassing both a pre-COVID-19 period and a period during the pandemic. A two-way fixed effects model, including retailer-city fixed effects and year-week fixed effects, is used to estimate department store sales.FindingsThe authors find that the two persevering strategies offset the negative impact of government-imposed containment and health measures on sales performance. On the other hand, the innovative strategy is more effective with a low level of containment and health measures, leading to our observation that virtual try-on may be more sustainable than the other two strategies in a post-pandemic environment.Originality/valueThis paper makes the following contributions: First, the authors contribute to the literature on strategies that may be used to respond to crises. Second, the authors contribute to the retail management literature, assessing the impact of the three retail strategies on department store sales. Finally, the authors compare the impact on sales of the two persevering strategies to the innovative strategy and conclude that a mix of these types of strategies may be most effective at generating short-term sales during a crisis and longer-term sales post crisis.

Strategic responses to the pandemic: a case study of the US department store industry

PurposeThe study focuses on (1) the success of three strategies employed during the pandemic - two "persevering" strategies, curbside pickup and return window extension and one innovative strategy, virtual try-on technology and (2) whether the strategies are likely to be successful in the post-pandemic world.Design/methodology/approachThe authors utilize a panel dataset containing 17 department store chains in the US The panel includes weekly sales by the retailers at the city level from 2018 to 2021, encompassing both a pre-COVID-19 period and a period during the pandemic. A two-way fixed effects model, including retailer-city fixed effects and year-week fixed effects, is used to estimate department store sales.FindingsThe authors find that the two persevering strategies offset the negative impact of government-imposed containment and health measures on sales performance. On the other hand, the innovative strategy is more effective with a low level of containment and health measures, leading to our observation that virtual try-on may be more sustainable than the other two strategies in a post-pandemic environment.Originality/valueThis paper makes the following contributions: First, the authors contribute to the literature on strategies that may be used to respond to crises. Second, the authors contribute to the retail management literature, assessing the impact of the three retail strategies on department store sales. Finally, the authors compare the impact on sales of the two persevering strategies to the innovative strategy and conclude that a mix of these types of strategies may be most effective at generating short-term sales during a crisis and longer-term sales post crisis.

Emergence of Curbside Pickup: Consumers’ Usage Intention Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

This study examines how consumers’ intention to use a curbside pickup responds to the COVID-19 vaccination rates. With our first survey conducted in March 2021, we find that a low (high) vaccination rate is associated with consumers’ high (low) intention to maintain contact avoidance and their high (low) anticipation for shipping delays. Heightened contact avoidance and anticipation for shipping delays may encourage consumers to use a curbside pickup. Our results also show that when a product is needed immediately, and a consumer expects shipping delays, s/he is more likely to use a curbside pickup. However, with our second survey conducted in November 2021, we find heterogeneous consumer responses to the vaccination rates. Specifically, consumers’ political affiliation moderates the relationship between the vaccination rates and their intention to maintain contact avoidance. The association between the vaccination rates and the anticipation for shipping delays is also weakened compared to March 2021. Our empirical results illustrate how consumers’ intention to use a curbside pickup emerges and changes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2022, Asia Pacific Journal of Information Systems. All Rights Reserved.

Do liberals want curbside pickup more than conservatives? Contactless shopping as protectionary action against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Consumers showed a dramatically increased interest in contactless shopping in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the protection motivation theory, this study investigated how contactless shopping grew as a protectionary action against COVID-19. Findings from a nationwide online survey (n = 311) confirmed the impact of politicization of the pandemic on consumer responses for contactless shopping intention and the significance of threat and coping appraisals in taking protectionary actions. This study adds knowledge to the existing literature on contactless shopping and protection motivation theory. Results imply that retailers must invest in contactless shopping and provide an in-store shopping environment that prioritizes the health and safety of shoppers and employees to decrease the threat of virus infection during shopping. However, in doing so, retailers are recommended to develop different marketing strategies regarding contactless shopping based on consumers' political orientations.