Best Buy expands holiday fulfillment options

Best Buy is extending the hours and reach of omnichannel programs such as contactless curbside pickup for holiday shoppers.

As the holiday season enters its final weeks and digital shopping surges, Best Buy is ramping up its seamless fulfillment offerings. For example, the consumer electronics giant is expanding the availability of contactless curbside pickup at almost all stores to before and after regular store hours, often within an hour.

Best Buy is also increasing the reach of its existing same-day and next-day delivery services, with free, next-day delivery available on thousands of items. The retailer also partners with delivery companies like Shipt and Roadie to enable shoppers to check out as late as 3 p.m. local time and get their orders by 9 p.m. In addition, Best Buy recently teamed up with Instacart to allow customers to shop for hundreds of its items on the Instacart app or website for delivery the same or next day.

Other omnichannel fulfillment services Best Buy is offering for the holiday season include having in-store employees deliver online orders to customer doors until 10:30 p.m. local time, seven days a week. Shoppers don’t need to select this option during checkout, they can choose their preferred delivery window and Best Buy will take care of the rest.

Furthermore, Best Buy has enlisted about 340 stores to be ship-from-store hubs, equipped with trained associates and space to handle a much higher volume of orders and help the retailer deliver more orders to customers on time. Best Buy expects about 70% of all of its ship-from-store units to be sent from these hubs.

And finally, Best Buy has expanded its alternate pickup options to 16,000 locations across the country with new and expanded partners, including CVS Pharmacy, Michaels, Advance Auto Parts, and UPS stores. Customers can select their desired pickup location as they check out online and wait for their order completion email.