Kmart and Target charge locked down shoppers click & collect fees

Kmart and Target are standing by their click and collect fees during lockdown, even as rivals are offering the service for free.

Kmart is standing by its $3 click and collect fee for orders under $20 even for those in lockdown zones.

Retail giants Kmart and Target are charging shoppers click and collect fees during lockdown, despite stores being only opened to fulfil online and pick-up orders at Covid-19 hotspots.

Meanwhile other major retailers, including Woolworths-owned rival Big W, are operating pick-up services free.

In one case, Kmart slugged a pregnant woman a $3 click and click fee on a $9 pair of maternity leggings which equates to 30 per cent price hike.

The company said it was continuing to charge a $3 fee on click and collect orders totalling less than $20 to cover “part of the cost for our team members to individually pick, pack and store your order”.

But with stores closed during lockdown, staff duties are now predominantly fulfilling click and collect orders and other retailers, including Baby Bunting, Myer, David Jones, Super Retail Group and JB Hifi, running the service for free.

Even Kmart and Target’s stablemates at Wesfarmers, Bunnings and Officeworks offer free click and collect services.

A spokesman for the Kmart Group, the discount department division of Wesfarmers that operates Kmart and its stablemate chain Target said the small fee charged helped to cover the cost of the service.

“In short, both Kmart and Target have a small fee for smaller orders to cover the handling cost of picking the goods,” the spokesman said.

The charge comes as Wesfarmers declared during its 105-page strategy day presentation last month that one of its key priorities for Kmart was to “deliver a range of initiatives to significantly improve the online customer experience, while realising improved efficiency”.

Kmart Group, which includes Target at ecommerce site Catch, generated revenue of $9.2bn last year - $1.2bn of which were online sales.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims said retailers can charge certain fees under Australian consumer law, provided they are disclosed.

At the start of the online transaction, Kmart states it charges a $3 click and collect fee for orders under $20, whereas Target merely states what a customer has to spend to obtain free click and collect without stating the fee.

It its not until towards the end of Target’s checkout process - after a customer enters personal details such as their email - that the $3 click and click fee for orders under $20 is added.

“Consumer Law is all about not misleading consumers. There’s no law against price gouging. That’s just the reality of it,” Mr Sims said.