We’re thrilled to announce that this past September Best Buy Canada was recognized as “Best Omni-Channel Retailer (Large)” at the 2015 Canada Post E-commerce Innovation Awards! This marks the second year in a row we’ve been bestowed with this honour and is a milestone achievement that comes as we continue to look for new ways to invigorate the online shopping experience.
What does it mean to be Omni-Channel?
We know that Canadians love to shop with convenience, which is exactly what an omni-channel shopping experience presents to the customer. At Best Buy Canada, we’ve worked to create a seamless experience for you, whether you’re shopping online, through a mobile device, or in our stores.
No matter which option you choose, you’re able to navigate an expansive selection of products and we’re set to deliver on the latest and greatest in tech. To further enhance this experience, Best Buy Canada has introduced and is continuing to improve upon our eCommerce programs.
Reserving and picking up an item in 20 minutes or less!
Available on all digital storefronts—including desktop, mobile and our app—our Reserve Online and Pick-Up In-Store program is truly designed with the customer in mind. This program includes a commitment that your item will be ready to pick up in-store within 20 minutes of reserving it online (during regular store opening hours). And, with 80% of Canadians living within 15 minutes of one our stores, your product is only a short distance away.
One key differentiator for our Reserve and Pick-Up program is that no payment is required at the time of reserving a product online; you only are required to pay for your item upon arriving to pick it up in our store. To expedite this process, our stores have dedicated staff and pick-up areas, with some even offering dedicated parking spots, and we allow for a variety of payment options.
Can’t find an item in-store? Let us find it online
There’s nothing more frustrating for us than seeing a customer not being able to find what they’re looking for in-store. This is why we offer the convenience of an “endless aisle” that taps into our online inventory. This Multi-Channel Fulfilment lets you find the products that might be out of stock in our stores, or even add to your order from our assortment of online-only items.
Our current Expanded Assortment of items includes furniture, jewelry, sporting goods and baby products, and much more. In fact, we have over 70,000 unique products available online—roughly eight products for every one product in our stores—and this number is continuing to grow. We have also developed unique enriched content in the form of Brand stores, Buying guides and our Plug-in Blog, to help you discover all of the great products at Best Buy.
Shipping from our stores and making a delivery promise
Best Buy Canada is also in the process of opening up our store inventory to those customers shopping online, thereby ensuring that no matter how you shop with us you can be assured that you have full access to each and every item we have in-stock. Looking to find a clearance item that has long been sold-out online? With the ability to Ship from Store, our Best Buy stores nationwide will operate as a network of localized distribution centres. This means that every item of our inventory will be available to you online, and might even be shipped from a store nearby—getting to you, faster!
When paired with our Fast, Free Shipping on orders over $35—with no membership fees required—this ability to ship products directly from our stores is further complemented by our Delivery Promise. Introduced in March of this year, Delivery Promise presents you with an expected arrival date for your items, before an order is placed. This tool leverages geolocation technology in conjunction with data sourced from carrier partners to provide an accurate timeline on a product’s delivery, and is engineered to respond uniquely to each customer. By displaying which delivery options are available for your item, Delivery Promise will notify of a faster delivery option if one exists.
As Best Buy Canada continues to develop a seamless multi-channel shopping experience that interweaves the use of mobile platforms, online channels, and in-store fulfillment, our Canada Post award wins will help to propel many exciting announcements over the next few months. Stay tuned for more information!
Learn more about the Canada Post E-commerce Innovation Awards by visiting the Canada Post website.
