Americans love their automobiles, and now that love is boosting the economy despite the handicaps of the Coronavirus. The desire to get out of the house and to shop in a safe manner has given rise to the curbside pickup.
The practice is booming and it is proving profitable for many big retailers who are seeing fewer and fewer customers inside the stores themselves. According to the New York Times about 75 percent of the top 50 retailers have now established curbside pickup.
Is it working? Well, just look at Target. In the past quarter it’s curbside sales were up 700 percent compared with last year.[1] Online sales at Best Buy approached 5 Billion dollars and 41 percent of that merchandise was pickup at curbside. [2]
The trend has also led to the creation of new jobs. Walmart now employs 74,000 workers to fill customers orders and take them to the curb for pickup.[3] Five years ago there were only 1,000 of those jobs. I find this so encouraging. It seems that despite the challenge, America’s ingenuity always figures out a way to rise to the occasion.
I think it’s a fact in which all of us can take pride.
Sources
- Target: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/19/target-tgt-q2-2020-earnings.html
- Best Buy: https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2020/08/27/best-buys-web-sales-grow-242-in-q2-to-a-record-of-nearly-5-billion/
- Walmart: https://www.baltimoresun.com/consumer-reviews/sns-nyt-retailers-curbside-pickup-20201009-u5smzt4smvhojnlybhm2wbonkm-story.html