After the COVID-19 pandemic, no contact pickup and delivery have become an operational norm for most companies involved in delivering goods. Until now, the human component played an essential role in the last-mile pickup and delivery.
With the fear of COVID-19 grappling, companies have to move to a no-contact pickup system to keep their staff and customers from infection. This article will take a look at the different components that define a no-contact or curbside pickup system.
Contactless Product Selection
The customer can enter the supermarket or the grocery store for purchasing the goods. The first stage of the contactless pickup is selecting the goods without touching the products on the store shelves. Here, the customer needs to use the in-store app and use the camera of the phone to scan the QR code of the product.
When the customer scans the product QR code, the product gets added in the customer’s cart, where he/she can add a quantity of the product if required. After the customer is done with the selection of products, he/she needs to make an online payment for the goods and select no contact pickup option.
Pickup Towers
The pickup tower is the most critical component of contactless delivery. A pickup tower is a robotics-based last-mile parcel delivery solution that features an adjustable storage system for maximum use of space.
The pickup tower is designed to automate indoor and outdoor parcel storing and pickup operations. The shop or supermarket responsible for delivering the goods pack the items in a parcel and inserts the package in the pickup tower. The pickup tower measures the parcel and stores it in the most space-efficient way.
End-Customer Notification and Delivery
After the parcel is inserted in the pickup tower, the system sends a notification to the end-customer, and he/she receives the pickup code. The customer arrives at the pickup tower and scans or enters the pickup code derived from the no contact pickup system. The pickup tower matched the pickup code with the parcel and issues the parcel to the user in few seconds.
Parcel Return
If the end-customer finds any problem with the goods ordered, he/she can schedule a return using the pickup tower.
Location of Pickup Towers
In the case of physical stores, you can place the pickup tower outside the stores, and it is easy for customers to pick up their orders without risk of infection through physical contact. The shop can schedule a pickup schedule for its customers so that customers don’t have to wait in long queues at the pickup tower to collect their orders in a contactless manner.
Contactless pickup can also work well in the case of online stores. The only difference is the e-commerce store has to select a pickup tower close to the residence of the customer to facilitate contactless delivery. The pickup tower reduces the operational cost for the shops in the last mile delivery and also makes the whole process safer for all parties involved in the transaction of goods.
These are some of the crucial components of no contact pickup system where the customer and the staff never come in close contact, which reduces the risk of spreading the virus.
