Gorham’s Ltd. Launches Express Order Centre
Gorham’s Ltd officially launches its Express Order Centre at its St. John’s Road location. The Express Order Centre allows customers to come into the store, place their online shopping orders and have goods shipped at a lower cost using Gorham’s cargo containers.
A spokesperson said, “Gorham’s Ltd, the Island’s premiere home and garden store, is on a mission to make shipping goods to Bermuda easier and more affordable.
“Today [June 29] Gorham’s officially launches its Express Order Centre, which allows customers to come into their location on St. John’s Road in Pembroke, place their online shopping orders and have goods shipped at a lower cost using Gorham’s cargo containers.”
According to Rod Farrington, a Senior Manager at Gorham’s, the local hardware store has been quietly “testing the waters” with this new venture over the past two years. By allowing select customers to ship their items through them, ranging from clothing and shoes to large pieces of household furniture, Gorham’s has been able to monitor the results and ensure the process ran smoothly.
“There has been a long trend in Bermuda with shoppers looking for more variety who go online to order their goods,” Mr. Farrington explained.
“When you talk to any retailer today about internet buying, 99 percent of the time they want to run in the other direction, but we decided two years ago we wouldn’t stick our heads in the sand about this and instead embrace it by offering shipping services for items clients couldn’t find in Bermuda.
“Since then it’s expanded to include all kinds of personal or household items, big and small. It was saving customers time, hassle and a lot of money and the feedback we got from users was extremely positive.”
“Typically when it comes to online shopping, people find what they want on a store’s website, will buy it themselves and ship it to an overseas address. With Gorham’s Express Order Centre the main difference is people will come into the store and place their order at one of the four designated kiosks.
“We bring in whatever they order on our containers and by law we have to be the ones who finalise the order,” Mr. Farrington said.
“Most people come in with a clear idea of what they already want, be it from Amazon.com or Wayfair, they print out the items, bring it in to us and we will help them order it. Others can take their time and browse on one of our computers to find the best deal.
“They pay for the items as usual, but the benefit is we are able to go to another screen which calculates the freight, duty and insurance up front, so there are no additional costs or hidden surprises to deal with later. It takes on average three weeks for items to get to Bermuda. Once they arrive we call you, you pick it up and it’s good to go.”
Mr. Farrington said the process could save consumers a lot of money.
“We do not add mark-up fees for the goods ordered,” he said. “The only fees collected by Gorham’s is for the freight, duty, insurance and a handling fee for large shipments – and because it’s coming in by ocean cargo rather than air it’s significantly cheaper.
“We look at this as a great way to get customers into the store and if we don’t have what they’re looking for we can help them find it online,” he added.
“The Express Order Centre is especially useful for inexperienced internet customers who aren’t comfortable buying on-line. They come in and sit down with our staff and leave feeling satisfied with their purchase.
“When they walk out the product is 100 percent paid for and all they have to do is collect it once it arrives. We’ve seen people order everything from furniture to baby supplies and clothes as well. We don’t restrict it as long as it abides by the laws of Bermuda.
“Orders have a minimum charge of four cubic feet in size, while orders over 20 cubic feet benefit from a discounted freight cost. For more information on the new service drop by Gorham’s and visit with Wanda Brown our Order Specialist. You can also visit www.gorhams-ltd.com.”
Gorhams, this is good to a certain extent. I was hoping you would have a website were people can order from your store, and either have it delivered to their homes, or for pick up. This is what is lacking in Bermuda. There are not too many stores were you can do this. Hasn’t Bermudian businesses figured out yet that Bermudians love shopping on line?
Shopping as we know it is changing one day soon there will be no going to the store, helpful and pleasant staff will be some distant memory. Soon the drones will deliver to your door within the hour of your mouse click and credit card acceptance. We won’t even need to speak to other humans. Big brother will be watching (for your protection) news that gets filtered by someone who knows what is best for you will be streamed over one solitary channel. All retail and office jobs will have been automated so the state must deliver allowances to the minions based upon their perceived loyalty to the state and it’s grand poo-pah.
This is my 2025 vision statement.
What are your shopping rates
well done Gorham’s! you are in a very positive way helping both the community with its desires and your business by creating foot traffic. kudos to the person who came up with this idea. much success. and yes, ordering online from your own site Gorham’s in stock or even special order items, and then paying to have them locally delivered [ or meeting a minimum purchase for free delivery] could also be a way to increase business since it can be hard to get a lot of purchases on a bike, and car availability is not always regular for each household…
YES!!!!!