Swiss Federal Railways and Migros experiment with 30-minute delivery

Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and Migros are combining efforts. The two companies are planning a new service, where customers from Migros can order their products online and pick them up half an hour later at the train station. The project will run under the not so surprising name Click & Collect.

Approximately one thousand products of daily use will be available during the project, which will last for nine months. “It’s a pilot project that we will start in September, together with Migros Zürich at the main train station in Zürich”, SBB’s spokesman Stephan Wehrle told the Handelszeitung.

Twint, a subsidiary of PostFinance, is also involved in the project, as the payments app will be launched at the start of SBB’s recent ecommerce campaign in autumn this year. The payments process works using Bluetooth technology and special terminals.

GoodBox in Switzerland
A similar project called ‘GoodBox‘ was presented by SBB several months ago. The app based retail solution lets passengers order their groceries for pick up at their railway station upon arrival. After ordering and paying for their goods, the commuters receive a QR code, which enables them to open a locker and pick up the groceries.

30-minute delivery
SBB expects however more from the new service it started with Migros, mainly because of the fast delivery time. But experts say the promise of delivery within 30 minutes is “very ambitious”.

The SBB and Migros service Click & Collect will not only be limited to the central station of Zürich. After nine months of testing and experimenting, it’s quite possible to provide these services on its own ecommerce platform and to offer it in all of Switzerland.