What is a click & collect locker for a builders' merchant?

A click & collect locker is an access-controlled cabinet that lets a customer collect an online order without queueing at a trade counter. The order is placed online or in-app, a worker loads it into a locker cell, and the customer opens the cell with a code, QR scan, or app at any hour — often 24/7, outside store opening times. For trade customers who work early or late, it removes the biggest friction in the branch: waiting for a handover.

Are click & collect lockers growing in the trade and builders' merchant sector?

Yes. Over 75% of UK general builders' merchant branches already offer click & collect, and an MRA Building Market Reports survey of 300 branch managers found 67% expect click & collect sales to increase over the next 12 months, with a net 62% expecting it to grow as a share of sales. In August 2026 two of the UK's largest builders' merchants began trialling 24/7 collection lockers at flagship branches — the first large merchant trials of unattended, after-hours collection.

How are trade collection lockers different from parcel lockers?

Trade lockers need oversize cells for items like ladders, boards, and large building materials — a standard parcel locker cannot hold them. They also need to work outside store hours in exposed or yard environments, carry brand signage, and integrate with the merchant's order management so a code is issued automatically when an order is loaded. The same hardware logic as a parcel locker, but sized and ruggedised for the trade.

Can KioskForce build click & collect lockers for a trade or retail business?

Yes. KioskForce designs and manufactures custom smart lockers to specification — you choose width, height, depth (up to 2000mm x 2000mm x 1000mm), cell layout, oversize cells, indoor or outdoor rating, PIN or ID-card access, and optional per-cell charging. The cloud software tracks every open, collection and return, so the workflow behind the locker is as important as the cabinet. We help clients worldwide implement the same 24/7 collection model, from a single pilot unit to a national rollout, with orders from a single unit for prototyping and production volumes 10-100+.

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Click & Collect Lockers Are the UK Trade Battleground — 24/7 Collection Is Going Mainstream

The UK trade sector just passed a tipping point for unattended collection. In August 2026, two of the country’s biggest builders’ merchants trialled 24/7 collection lockers within weeks of each other — one with 17 self-service units at a flagship store, another with oversize branded lockers at two flagship branches and further installs in planning across 500+ sites. This is not a niche experiment: over 75% of UK general builders’ merchant branches already offer click & collect, and in an MRA Building Market Reports survey of 300 branch managers, 67% expect click & collect sales to grow in the next 12 months while a net 62% expect it to grow as a share of sales. The pattern is the same one driving industrial MRO: secure, tracked, 24/7 access to items without a staffed counter. KioskForce designs and manufactures this class of locker and helps retailers, merchants and distributors around the world implement it — from a single pilot store to a national rollout.

24 August 2026 · Updated 25 August 2026

Two of the UK’s biggest builders’ merchants just put 24/7 collection lockers live within weeks of each other.

In August 2026, one of the country’s largest trade retailers began trialling 17 self-service collection lockers at a flagship store — tradespeople can now collect online orders 24 hours a day, seven days a week, using a code on their phone. The trial is the retailer’s test of unattended collection, with rollout potential if it proves out.

Days earlier, another national merchant went live with oversize branded smart lockers at two flagship branches — 24/7 click & collect for everything from small plumbing tools to large building materials, with further installations already in planning across its 500+ branches.

This is not a niche experiment.

Click & Collect Is Already Mainstream in Trade

The MRA Building Market Reports survey of 300 UK merchant branch managers (August 2026) is unambiguous:

Over 75% of general builders’ merchant branches already offer click & collect.
67% of branch managers expect click & collect sales to increase over the next 12 months.
A net 62% expect click & collect to grow as a share of sales — even as next-day delivery becomes standard (offered by 90%+ of branches).

The merchants’ own explanation: click & collect pairs with growing online sales, and it gives the branch a fulfilment option that doesn’t depend on a delivery van. What the survey doesn’t capture yet is the 24/7 step — the locker.

Why the Lockers Are the Point

A click & collect counter is still a handover. A staffed counter means a queue, a lunch break, a 5 p.m. close.

A 24/7 locker removes the handover entirely:

The branch is open for collection when the customer is — 6 a.m. starts and late finishes are normal in the trade.
Every collection is recorded — who opened which cell, when, and what they took. No lost sign-out sheets.
Store labour is freed — staff load orders once; customers collect themselves.
Oversize cells handle the real product mix — ladders, boards, plumbing, paint — not just parcel-sized boxes.

The trade press framing is telling: collection lockers are being described not as another click & collect add-on, but as convenience becoming the strategy — the branch evolving from a place to buy products into a service hub with multiple ways to access them.

The Operational Reality

Anyone who has run a collection point knows the tech is not the hard part. The hard part is the exceptions: wrong bay, forgotten code, oversized item, an order sitting uncollected for days.

That is why the trials are structured the way they are — a contained pilot to learn the workflow before scaling. The vendors that get the workflow right save staff hours from day one. The ones that bolt on hardware without the software discover the gaps in month three.

This is exactly the lesson industrial MRO and PPE distributors learned years ago: the locker is the handover point; the workflow around it is the value.

Same Hardware, Two Buyers

The convergence that drives our smart locker systems is the same one now hitting the trade sector:

What drives the need	Trade / retail collection	Industrial MRO & PPE
The problem	Customer collects after hours	Tech needs a part mid-shift
What’s stored	Online orders, returns, large materials	PPE, tooling, spare parts
Access method	Phone code, QR, app	Badge, PIN, card
The unlock	Convenience (24/7 C&C)	Compliance + inventory control
What the cloud tracks	Order picked up / not	Who took what, when, and returned it

A builders’ merchant locker and a factory tool crib locker are the same machine with different signage. Both need oversize-capable, access-controlled cells, cloud software, and a workflow that records every open.

We Help Clients Implement This, Globally

The trials you are reading about are one instance of a wider shift — and the same model is being deployed by retailers, merchants and industrial operators around the world.

KioskForce designs and manufactures smart lockers to specification and helps clients implement 24/7 collection and dispensing anywhere:

Custom to the site and the product mix — cell layout, oversize compartments for ladders, boards and large materials, indoor or outdoor builds.
Hardware and software in one house — access control (code, QR, app, PIN, card), cloud software with a full audit trail on every open, collection and return, and per-cell charging where devices are involved.
From one pilot to a national rollout — we work with clients from a single pilot store or branch to estate-wide deployment, shipped worldwide from Nanjing.
No reseller chain — you deal directly with the design and manufacturing team, so the locker is built around your workflow, not a catalog machine.

Whether you are a merchant piloting after-hours collection, a distributor adding a locker line, or an industrial operator running a tool crib, the path is the same: start with the problem, prove the workflow on one site, then scale.

Start with the smart locker systems page, or talk to us directly.

The Bottom Line

75% of UK merchants already offer click & collect.

67% expect it to grow.

The first large 24/7 collection-locker trials in the trade sector went live in the same month.

The counter is the bottleneck. The locker is the fix. And the businesses that prove the workflow first will set the expectation everyone else has to meet.

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