Click and Collect worth more than £2.5bn to Scottish economy, Barclays study says

Click and collect shopping is predicted to be worth more than £2.5bn to the Scottish economy this year, a report has found.

Accounting for 38.4% of total retail income in the country, it follows the UK trend which has seen the click and collect economy to be worth more than £42.4bn in 2022 – this is worth 8.4% of the retail industry’s total income.

The What’s In Store For Retail? report by Barclays Corporate Banking said the value of click and collect to the Scottish economy is up from 27.6% just a year ago.

However, the report also warned business rates, supplier, transport and logistics costs are currently placing the biggest strain on retailers’ profitability.

Scottish consumers are also looking to cup 26.2% of their retail spending in coming months, amid the burgeoning cost of living crisis.

The popularity of click and collect grew during the pandemic but, unlike pure online sales which peaked during that period, it has continued to grow post the lifting of lockdown restrictions.

Barclays’ study also highlighted the service now underpins nearly 14,000 jobs across the industry in Scotland, which equates to 4.8% of the region’s retail workforce.

Over a third of physical stores in Scotland (39.3%) are now used as click and collect locations, with over four in every ten stores (41.1%) being used to process returns.

The study also revealed that having both an online and physical presence can be advantageous for a retailer’s appeal, with one in ten customers (14.6%) saying they can be hesitant when buying from online-only brands, a figure which drops to 8.5% when businesses also have physical stores.

Euan Murray, relationship director at Barclays Corporate Banking, said: “Perhaps more than any other sector over the past two years, retail has been forced into a period of accelerated evolution.

“The pandemic drove everyone online, and now the rising cost of living is increasing business outgoings while reducing consumer spending.

“Encouragingly for the UK’s retail sector, however, businesses are adapting their sales models to weather these financial storms as effectively as possible.

“Links between digital and physical shopping are being evolved, which are opening up new opportunities and ways to generate income.”