What Is Curbside? A 2026 Guide for Retail & Delivery
What is curbside pickup and how can your business implement it? Our guide covers operations, best practices, and the tech you need for a seamless experience.
Curbside pickup is a service where a customer places an order online or by phone, drives to a designated pickup area, and an employee brings the order to the vehicle. It’s now a mainstream fulfillment method, with 71.8 million Americans using curbside pickup monthly and 25.3% of U.S. consumers using it annually.
If you run retail, grocery, food service, or local delivery, you’re probably already feeling the pressure behind that shift. Customers expect the speed of e-commerce, but they also want the convenience of same-day local pickup without walking the store, waiting at a counter, or figuring out where to go.
That’s why “what is curbside” isn’t really a definition question anymore. It’s an operations question. The simple version is easy to explain: customers order online, park in a marked spot, and staff bring the order out. The hard part is everything between checkout and handoff. Orders have to be picked correctly, staged in the right place, tied to the right customer, and delivered to the right car without forcing people to call three times or walk inside to ask for help.
For most businesses, curbside works well when it’s treated like a last-meter fulfillment workflow, not a side task for whoever happens to be free.
Table of Contents
What Is Curbside and Why Does It Matter Now
It is 5:15 p.m. Your after-work pickup window just opened. Three customers are pulling in at once, one order is still being bagged, another is staged under the wrong name, and your front-of-store team is trying to answer phones while helping walk-in shoppers. That is curbside in real life.
At the customer level, curbside is simple. They order, arrive, and expect a fast handoff without leaving the car. In standard English, curbside refers to the edge of a street or paved area next to the curb, and in retail it also means goods are brought out to a customer waiting nearby in a vehicle, as defined by Merriam-Webster’s entry for curbside.
For the business, it is not just a convenience feature. It is an operating model that turns parking spaces, check-in messages, staging shelves, and runner labor into part of your fulfillment system.
That distinction matters.
Curbside stayed relevant after the pandemic because it solves a cost and experience problem at the same time. Customers get speed without entering the store. Merchants keep a local pickup option that is usually cheaper and easier to control than sending every order out for home delivery.
The weak version of curbside is easy to launch. Add a few signs, let customers call the store, and have staff run orders outside when they can. The problem is that this setup breaks as volume rises. Phones ring unanswered, cars stack up, associates cannot tell which customer has arrived, and prepared orders sit in the wrong place.
The strong version requires tighter execution:
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A clear arrival flow: Customers need one check-in method, specific parking instructions, and confirmation that their arrival was received.
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Live order visibility: Staff need to see whether an order is picked, packed, staged, delayed, or already handed off.
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Defined handoff roles: Someone has to own prep, someone has to own runner activity, and both need a shared queue.
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Physical staging discipline: Orders have to be organized by temperature, timing, and pickup status, not piled near the door.
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Parking lot control: Bay numbering, signage, and vehicle identification need to be clear enough that staff are not guessing.
This is why curbside matters now. The customer judges it as a two-minute pickup. Your team experiences it as last-meter execution, where small failures become visible fast.
If you get that last meter right, curbside can reduce delivery cost, protect store traffic flow, and give customers a pickup option they will use again. If you get it wrong, it creates the worst kind of service issue: one that happens in public, in front of waiting customers, with no time to hide the confusion.
Curbside Explained How It Works for Customers and Businesses
Curbside pickup is the model where an order is prepared in-store or off-site, the customer parks in a designated area near the location, and staff bring the goods to the vehicle. The key distinction from in-store pickup is that the transfer happens at the curb or parking lot rather than inside the store, as explained in Interlake Mecalux’s overview of curbside pickup.
For customers, it feels like a personal drive-thru for retail. For operators, it’s a chain of linked tasks that has to stay tight from order capture to final handoff.
What the customer sees
The customer journey is usually simple:
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They place an order online or by phone
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They choose curbside pickup
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They wait for a ready notification
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They arrive and check in
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Your staff bring the order to the car
If that sequence works cleanly, the customer sees convenience. They don’t see the picker who had to substitute an item, the staff member looking for shelf-staged orders, or the confusion over whether bay three or bay five just arrived.
That simplicity is exactly why curbside can be powerful. The service feels low effort to the buyer.
What your team actually has to manage
Behind the scenes, the business process has more moving parts:
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Order capture: The order has to enter your system with the correct fulfillment method.
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Picking and packing: Someone has to gather, verify, and package the items.
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Staging: The order needs a defined holding area near the pickup zone.
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Customer notification: The customer has to know when the order is ready.
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Arrival handling: Staff need a reliable signal that the customer is on-site.
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Vehicle handoff: The order must be matched to the right person and car.
If your customer has to wonder, “Do they know I’m here?”, the process is already failing.
The weak point is usually the arrival step. Many businesses can receive orders and prepare them. Fewer businesses manage the final few minutes well. That’s where long waits, missed arrivals, and duplicate phone calls show up.
What works and what doesn’t
What works is a workflow with clear triggers. “Ready” should mean the order is packed, checked, and staged. “Arrived” should mean staff know which customer is outside and where they’re parked. “Delivered” should mean the handoff is complete and recorded internally.
What doesn’t work is treating curbside as informal. If staff have to rely on memory, handwritten notes, or a phone ringing at the front desk, execution becomes inconsistent fast. The customer may think curbside is one simple service. In practice, it’s a sequence of small operational promises, and each one has to hold.
Key Curbside Models Which One Fits Your Business
Not every curbside setup needs the same level of technology. Some businesses can run a basic model well with simple communication. Others need tighter orchestration because they handle heavier goods, scheduled pickups, multi-stop local orders, or high order volume.
By 2022, about two-thirds of millennial consumers in the U.S. chose curbside pickup as a delivery type, according to Local Express reporting on curbside pickup usage. That matters because digitally oriented shoppers usually have low tolerance for clunky pickup steps.
Four common operating models
Here’s a practical comparison.
| Model | Tech Requirement | Customer Friction | Operational Complexity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Call-on-arrival | Low | High | Medium |
| App-based check-in | Medium | Medium to low | Medium |
| Geofencing | Higher | Low | Higher |
| Scheduled pickup windows | Medium | Medium | Medium to high |
Call-on-arrival
This is the quickest model to launch. The customer gets a phone number in the confirmation message, arrives, and calls the store.
It works for low order volume, small teams, and businesses that want to prove demand before investing in tighter tooling. It also works in locations where customers are already used to calling ahead.
The downside is obvious. Calls get missed. Staff answer with inconsistent instructions. Customers sit outside unsure whether anyone picked up the message.
App-based check-in
This model lets the customer tap a link, reply to a message, or check in through an app or mobile page. It’s usually a better experience than phone-only curbside because the signal is structured and can feed the right team.
This model fits retailers with moderate order volume or multiple pickup bays. It reduces the need for staff to manually answer phones and repeat the same arrival questions.
The trade-off is setup and integration. If the check-in tool isn’t connected to order status, it can still create confusion.
Geofencing
Geofencing uses location signals to detect that a customer is approaching or has arrived. Done well, this is the smoothest model because staff get advance notice and can time the handoff more accurately.
Practical rule: Geofencing helps most when orders are bulky, staging is spread out, or the walk from store to pickup area takes time.
This model is strongest for high-volume curbside, grocery, and businesses that want tighter ETA visibility. The downside is technical complexity. Location permissions, notification design, and edge cases all need careful handling.
Scheduled pickup windows
With this model, the customer chooses a pickup slot. That gives your team more control over labor planning, batching, and staging.
It’s useful for merchants with limited staff, perishable items, or products that require prep time. It also works well when pickup demand spikes at predictable times.
The trade-off is rigidity. Some customers want immediate convenience, not a managed timeslot.
How to choose without overbuilding
A simple rule helps here:
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Start with call-on-arrival if volume is low and you need speed to launch.
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Move to app or link-based check-in when staff are spending too much time coordinating arrivals.
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Use geofencing when the last-meter handoff is the bottleneck.
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Use scheduled windows when labor planning matters as much as convenience.
The mistake isn’t choosing a simple model. The mistake is keeping a simple model after it starts breaking under real demand.
How to Implement Curbside Pickup in 5 Steps
Most curbside launches fail for the same reason. The business focuses on the customer promise before it designs the operating flow. You need the parking layout, the staff process, and the order signals to work together from day one.
Build the physical flow first
1. Set up the pickup zone
Start outside, not in your software. Mark dedicated pickup bays. Add visible signage from the street, lot entrance, and parking spots. Make sure vehicles can enter, stop, and exit without blocking normal traffic.
If customers have to guess where curbside starts, your team will spend the day solving avoidable confusion.
2. Design the internal handoff path
Map the route from shelf or stockroom to staging to vehicle. Keep staged orders close to the exit used for curbside. If you sell cold items, large products, or fragile goods, define separate handling rules before launch.
A practical staging setup usually answers three questions fast:
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Where is the order stored right now
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Who owns the next step
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How does staff know the customer has arrived
Set the digital workflow around it
3. Add curbside as a clear checkout option
Your e-commerce flow should let customers choose curbside without hunting for it. The order confirmation should state the pickup method, location instructions, and what the customer should do on arrival.
Don’t leave this vague. If the message says only “pickup available,” customers may assume they should walk in.
Before moving further, it helps to see a curbside workflow in action:
4. Configure notifications and arrival handling
The experience often gets won or lost at this point. You need at least three customer-facing messages: order received, order ready, and arrival confirmation or pickup instructions.
Good arrival handling can be built around:
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A reply-by-text flow
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A mobile check-in link
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A call fallback when digital check-in fails
Poor arrival handling usually means staff only learn a customer is outside when the customer gets frustrated enough to act again.
The cleanest curbside operations remove the need for the customer to improvise.
5. Train staff for edge cases, not just the happy path
Training shouldn’t stop at “bring the order to bay four.” Staff need clear rules for wrong-bay parking, partial orders, substitutions, no-shows, returns questions, and vehicle identification.
Use short scripts and role-play the awkward moments. What does the runner do if two silver SUVs arrive at once? What if the customer sends someone else to collect? What if the order is marked ready but still in packing?
A workable launch plan is simple:
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Pilot with limited hours or a smaller product set
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Watch where staff hesitate
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Fix the process
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Expand only after the handoff is reliable
That sequence saves more pain than trying to launch full scale on day one.
Best Practices for a Flawless Curbside Experience
Once curbside is live, the job changes. Launching is about setup. Running it well is about discipline. The businesses that make curbside feel easy usually follow the same handful of habits every day.
The habits that prevent messy handoffs
The first habit is clear communication. Customers should know where to park, how to check in, and what details to provide. Don’t hide this in a long confirmation email. Put the arrival instructions in every relevant message.
The second is disciplined staging. Orders should be sorted in a way that reduces search time during pickup rushes. If staff have to scan a pile of bags each time a car arrives, wait time expands even when labor is available.
The third is dedicated ownership. During peak periods, assign one person or one small team to curbside. Shared ownership sounds flexible, but it often creates delay because everyone assumes someone else saw the arrival signal.
A curbside lane breaks down when it becomes nobody’s primary responsibility.
A few practical standards help:
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Keep signage obvious: Use bay numbers and large wording that a driver can read while moving.
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Verify before walking out: Confirm customer name, order ID, and staging location before a runner leaves the building.
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Prepare for substitutions: If your business handles variable stock, staff need a script for explaining changes at pickup.
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Close the loop: Mark the order complete only after the handoff is finished.
The metrics worth watching
You don’t need a huge dashboard to manage curbside. You need a few measures that reveal friction early.
| Metric | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Average wait time | Shows how long customers sit after arrival |
| Order accuracy rate | Reveals picking and staging quality |
| Customer satisfaction | Captures whether the experience felt smooth |
| Arrival-to-handoff variance | Shows whether execution is consistent |
Average wait time tells you whether curbside is convenient. Accuracy tells you whether your team is rushing the wrong part of the workflow. Customer feedback gives context that raw timings miss, especially when signage or communication is the true issue.
What strong operators do differently
They review patterns, not just incidents. If customers keep asking where to park, that’s a signage problem. If staff can’t find ready orders, that’s a staging problem. If runners are always late during a certain period, that’s a staffing and scheduling problem.
Strong operators also separate curbside work from general store noise as much as possible. The more your pickup process depends on ad hoc decisions, the more inconsistent it gets.
Solving Common Curbside Challenges with Routelink
Most curbside complaints don’t come from the idea itself. They come from weak execution in the final minutes before handoff.
Independent coverage highlighted that real-world curbside pickup is often less straightforward than the ideal version, with customers sometimes needing to call, text, or even go inside to alert staff, and with instructions varying by store even within the same chain, as described in Bluedot’s discussion of how curbside pickup works. That’s the operational gap many teams are trying to close.
Where curbside breaks down
The first problem is messy communication. Staff send one message when the order is packed, another when it’s staged, and the customer still doesn’t know what to do on arrival.
The second problem is no arrival visibility. If your team only reacts after the customer manually reaches out, the handoff starts late every time.
The third problem is weak completion proof. In many businesses, once the order leaves the building, there’s no clean record of who received it, when it was handed over, or whether anything went wrong.
What fixes the handoff
Routelink is useful here because it connects planning, dispatch, customer notification, and proof of delivery in one workflow. For businesses that run their own local fulfillment, that matters more than adding another disconnected point tool.
A few capabilities are especially relevant to curbside and local handoff operations:
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Automated notifications: Customers can receive branded updates by email, SMS, or WhatsApp, which reduces the need for ad hoc phone coordination.
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Live tracking links: Teams can give customers a no-app-required tracking experience, which helps set expectations before arrival or delivery.
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Clear driver and runner workflows: Unique PIN-protected links make it easier to coordinate staff and temporary labor without a heavy app rollout.
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Proof of delivery tools: Sign-on-glass e-signatures and photo capture create a cleaner completion record.
Good curbside is really the last part of a broader fulfillment chain. If order capture, dispatch, notification, and proof all live in different places, the handoff will usually feel fragmented.
That’s why software choice matters. The best setup isn’t the flashiest one. It’s the one that gives your team a clear sequence from “customer placed the order” to “customer received the order” without forcing staff to stitch the process together manually.
Curbside Pickup Frequently Asked Questions
Is curbside the same as BOPIS
Not exactly. Curbside is a type of buy online, pick up in store flow, but the handoff happens outside at the curb or in a designated parking area. Traditional BOPIS usually means the customer comes inside to a service desk, counter, or locker.
Do I need a dedicated mobile app for curbside
No. Many businesses run curbside well with web-based links, text messages, and clear notifications. What matters is that customers can confirm readiness, understand pickup instructions, and announce arrival without friction.
How should returns work for curbside orders
Keep the return process explicit. Some businesses allow curbside return handoff, while others require returns inside the store even if pickup happened outside. The important part is telling customers the rule before they arrive so staff aren’t improvising in the parking lot.
What’s the biggest mistake businesses make with curbside
They treat it like a minor add-on instead of an operational workflow. The customer sees one handoff. Your team has to manage order readiness, staging, arrival visibility, vehicle matching, and completion. If those pieces aren’t defined, curbside feels unreliable fast.
If your business handles local pickup or delivery and you need tighter control over planning, dispatch, notifications, and proof of handoff, Routelink is built for that operational reality. It helps teams run cleaner last-mile workflows without forcing drivers or temporary staff into a complicated app setup.