August 23, 201015 yr Click and collect, the new way to beat the queues at Tesco: Britain's first supermarket drive-thru opens for business By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 4:37 PM on 23rd August 2010 Comments (142) Add to My Stories Supermarket giant Tesco is set to open the UK's first drive-thru store, it was announced today. The service is aimed at customers who do not want to carry out their weekly shop themselves, but who also do not have time to wait at home for an internet delivery. Instead, for a flat fee of £2, they will be able to drive to a dedicated area in a Tesco store at a set time and pick up their shopping without having to leave their car. Drive through supermarket shopping: The first Tesco Click and Collect which is stationed in a car park behind Tesco Extra in Baldock, Hertfordshire The first drive-thru store is being launched at the group's Tesco Extra store in Baldock, Hertfordshire, tomorrow as a pilot. TODAY'S POLL Would a drive-thru supermarket be the answer to your weekly shop? Yes No VOTE POLL RESULTS Close All polls Click to view yesterday's poll results If it is successful, the group plans to roll it out across other areas of the country, although it does not have a timescale for the expansion. Laura Wade-Gery, chief executive of Tesco dotcom and Tesco Direct, said: 'This will be especially popular with busy mums who have the school run and children's activities to manage. 'It also offers a solution to parents who want to avoid the challenge of shopping in a busy store with children in tow but can't afford the time to stay in for the shop to arrive to their door. 'We also expect it to help young professionals who want the convenience of a pre-picked and packed shop but who cannot commit to waiting at home for delivery.' Convenient: The service is aimed at customers who do not want to carry out their weekly shop themselves, but who also do not have time to wait at home for an internet delivery New service: From tomorrow customers will be able to drive to a dedicated area in a Tesco store at a set time and pick up their shopping without having to leave their car for a flat fee of £2 The service will be run by the Tesco dotcom team, with customers ordering their groceries online as if they were doing an internet shop, only they will choose the Click and Collect option. This will enable them to book a two-hour collection slot and they can pick up their shopping any time within this window. They will then go to a reserved area in the car park, show a member of staff their shopping reference details and have their goods loaded into their car boot. The charge for the service is £2, compared with a sliding scale of charges for internet deliveries which starts at £3. Customers will pay for their groceries online as if they were doing an internet shop. The drive-thru facility will be available seven days a week, and customers will be able to collect their shopping until 9pm on weekdays. Tesco dotcom generated total sales of around £2.1billion in 2009/2010, contributing £136million in profits. More than one million UK households regularly order goods from the group's website. Tesco is also opening its third dotcom store in Greenford tomorrow. The stores, which are also in Aylesford and Croydon, exist purely to supply goods for its home delivery service. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305168/Tesco-open-UKs-drive-store.html#ixzz0xSE36Ozw
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