A survey from Barclaycard has shown that retailers that offer customers click and collect as a delivery option will be more likely to boost both sales made via safe shopping online as well as in-store transactions.

87 per cent of the companies questioned in the study said that click and collect was growing in popularity at a greater rate than any of their other delivery solutions, with over two-thirds of customers deciding that this is the best option for them, according to Internet Retailing.

The main reason that people choose to have their online orders made available for in-store collection is that this is far more convenient than the alternative of home delivery, since 42 per cent of people are out of the house during the usual daytime drop-off windows.

15 per cent said that they were compelled to choose click and collect because their employer did not allow them to have items that they ordered online delivered to the office.

60 per cent of consumers want to see retailers work together with other businesses in order to make click and collect available as widely as possible, even in the cases where specific firms do not have bricks and mortar outlets in given areas.

Amazon is one of a number of online-only retailers to offer in-store pickup through lockers and other storage solutions. This is clearly something that customers value, as there is expected to be an uptick in demand for this type of service in the coming year by 68 per cent of businesses questioned.

Catering to customer demand for click and collect can clearly help stores to get more people through the door and then allow them to upsell other goods and services while encouraging more high street visits in general.