Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

Once retailers figure out the problem of ordering online and picking up in-store, their absolute next priority needs to be figuring out how to build a drive-thru. I should be able to purchase items and pick them up the same day without having to wake up my sleeping one-year-old in the car. For me, it solves the “shop now, get it now” craving that most of us have. And for retailers, it turns their retail outlets into a competitive advantage over online retailers. It also heavily plays toward men, who in many cases would rather skip the entire “shopping” experience.

Look, I’m not trying to oversimplify the complexity of solving merged-channel issues. For many retailers, this solution means a significant overhaul in technology, supply chain and core business processes. It is something that is certainly not done overnight and, in many cases, probably requires millions of dollars in software overhauls. But I am saying that solving those issues turns the table on Amazon and other online retailers. I can imagine the pricetags that read: “Have it today for $100 or have it in 2 days for $97.”

Instead of brick-and-mortar retailers complaining about sales-tax disadvantages, online retailers will start complaining about shipping disadvantages. (Amazon is already using couriers for some deliveries. Would anyone be surprised if it bought one of the major shipping companies? Or what if Amazon purchased a big-box retailer simply to gut the stores and use them as outlets for its own wares?)

But what about all of those lost sales from purchases not made by people wandering the aisles and seeing those killer merchandizing displays? Maybe we should ask some of the gas station jobbers how their worlds changed with the introduction of pay-at-the-pump?

I remember when gas stations first started to put in credit-card readers at the pump and thinking, “How many people are really that lazy that they won’t walk inside the store?” I thought it was a silly idea. Now, all these years later, in those rare occasions when I am stuck at some backwoods location that doesn’t offer pay-at-the-pump, I find myself wondering how people in the area get by or how that station stays in business.

The reality is those gas stations found themselves in a battle to compete on convenience and had no option but to follow suit. The soccer moms (or dads) were not going to even have a chance to see those wonderful merchandizing displays if they went down the street to pay at the pump.

And just like restaurant chains that adopted the drive-thru model, it didn’t mean the end of people’s in-restaurant visits. In many ways, it is an extension of the “take-out” model, just with an easier transaction for the consumer. In most cases, a restaurant with a drive-thru would have a higher customer count than a similar sized restaurant in a similar location. The assumption is that the drive-thru enabled the restaurant to capture additional customers.