by Freedonia Industry Studies
February 28, 2022
In a labor market where workers can be hard to come by and customers still have high expectations for quick service, retailers must get creative.
Although pickup lockers have been used by Amazon and others as a convenience, especially in urban areas, these lockers are not climate controlled. However, the rise of curbside pickup for grocery is making the need for refrigerated lockers increasingly important.
As processes exist now in most places, curbside grocery pickups have to be timed so that there are workers available to collect the groceries shortly before the consumer picks them up in order to limit the time the perishable food is away from refrigeration. Some stores have made florist coolers or newly constructed refrigeration areas near that door a place to keep collected groceries. However, space is still usually limited.
In some instances, consumers hoping to collect orders during peak periods have to wait a long time in the parking lot, get a message that they will not be able to get their order that day, or have to schedule pickups for a less convenient off-peak time. The use of refrigerated grocery pickup lockers would allow more workplace flexibility, as workers could collect the orders when time allowed and more orders could be collected at the same time without waiting for a worker to be available to bring it outside to their car.
For more information and discussion of opportunities, see The Freedonia Group’s extensive collection of off-the-shelf research, including Global Commercial Refrigeration: Food Retail Market. Freedonia Custom Research is also available for questions requiring tailored market intelligence.