A small shop sets up click and collect by switching on pickup in its sales platform, setting a preparation time, and sending the customer four messages: order confirmed, ready for collection, a reminder before the hold ends, and a release notice if uncollected. Publish the collection window and no-show rule at checkout.
The settings take twenty minutes. The messages and rules are what customers remember. Neither Shopify nor Square Online sends a reminder when an order sits uncollected, so the hold time, the day-2 nudge and the release notice are yours to decide; an AI assistant can draft the wording, but not the rule.
Decide the rules before you touch a setting
Click and collect fails in small, predictable ways: orders sit on a shelf for three weeks, customers turn up before the order is ready, or two staff pick the same item. All of these are rule problems, not software problems. Write down answers to these questions first:
- Preparation time: how long from order to ready? Two hours in shop hours, or next working day?
- Collection hours: which hours can customers actually collect?
- Hold time: how many days will you keep it?
- Proof: do you ask for the order number, a name or an ID? Age-restricted goods need a person-to-person check.
- Uncollected orders: what happens at the end of the hold?
- Changes: can a customer add an item or swap one at the counter?
Example: a rule sheet for a small homebrew supplies shop
Say a shop selling brewing kit and ingredients writes: "Orders placed before 3 pm are ready by 5 pm the same day, otherwise by 12 noon next day. Collection Tuesday to Saturday, 10 to 5. We hold orders for 4 days. Bring the order number or the email. If you cannot collect in time, reply to the message and we will extend once. After 4 days plus one reminder and one final notice, we release the stock and refund the order in full." That is the whole rule set in six lines, and everything below is built from it.
Setting it up in Shopify
Shopify's local pickup feature works per location. According to Shopify's help centre, you need at least one location set to fulfil online orders and your store must use the latest checkout version. The steps, in plain order:
- In Settings, go to Shipping and delivery, then Pickup in store. Choose the location.
- Turn on "Let customers pick up orders directly at this location".
- In the Expected pickup date section, pick a processing time from the drop-down. This is the preparation time customers see at checkout.
- In the Ready for pickup notification section, add your pickup instructions. These sit in the notification email customers receive.
When you have an order ready, open it in Orders, click Ready for pickup, then Mark as ready for pickup. That sends the Ready for pickup email, and you can view or resend it from the order's timeline. When the customer collects, click Mark as picked up, with the option of sending a confirmation email.
Two limits are worth knowing. Shopify's article describes email notifications and does not mention text messages for this notification, and it does not cover hold time. So if you want texts, or a reminder when an order has sat for three days, you either need an app or a manual routine. Look in the Shopify app store and check each app's price and what it sends before you rely on it.
Setting it up in Square Online
Square handles pickup under its Online settings. Based on Square's support article and its community threads, the useful switches are these:
- In Square Dashboard, open Online (or Channels, then Square Online), then Communications, then Email and Text Alerts. Turn on "Email customer when their order is ready or shipped".
- In the same area, under Text message alerts, turn on "Send order status text messages to customers". Square's article says texts for pickup and delivery orders cover order placement, status changes such as ready for pickup, and curbside arrival.
- Set a default preparation time under the pickup and delivery settings for your location. One community answer says you can override it for individual items.
- If customers should choose a time slot, turn on the setting for scheduling pickup orders on future days; community answers say a customer only sees a time list when that toggle is on.
When the order is ready, click Mark as Ready on the order. That emails the customer. A text goes out too, but only if you have enabled text alerts and the customer opted in; Square's help article notes that some text alert settings need a Square Online Plus or Premium subscription, so check your plan. There is also an optional curbside feature: under Settings, Account and Settings, Fulfilment methods, Online pickup and delivery, Advanced Settings, switch on On-POS arrival alerts. Customers can then text "HERE" and you see an alert on the point of sale.
One trap from Square's community pages: a prep time that pushes the earliest pickup past your opening hours can make items show as unavailable. If your 20-minute prep time means the first pickup slot is after you open, adjust your hours or the prep time and test with a real order.
Which platform setting does what
| Job | Shopify | Square Online |
|---|---|---|
| Preparation time shown to customers | Expected pickup date, processing time | Default prep time under pickup settings |
| Ready message | Ready for pickup notification (email) | Email on Mark as Ready; text if enabled and opted in |
| Customer wording | Pickup instructions in the notification settings | Support article does not explain editing alert wording |
| Arrival alert | Not described in the article | On-POS arrival alerts; customer texts "HERE" |
| Hold time | Not covered; your own rule | Not described; your own rule |
| Mark collected | Mark as picked up | Mark order complete in the dashboard |
Both platforms leave the hold-time rule and the reminder to you. That is not a flaw to fix with software; it is a decision that belongs in your policy page and in the messages below.
The five-message sequence
Customers should hear from you at five points. The platform sends the first and second by default, so your job is to improve their wording and add the rest manually or by an app.
| # | When | Purpose | Sent by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | At order | Confirm items, prep time, collection hours, hold time | Platform confirmation |
| 2 | When ready | Tell them where, when and what to bring | Platform ready notification |
| 3 | Day 2 of 4 if uncollected | Gentle reminder with the end date | You, or an app |
| 4 | Day 4 morning | Final notice: extend or release today | You, or an app |
| 5 | After release | Confirm release and refund, offer to reorder | You |
Write each message in the same warm, direct voice. Short messages get read; a text should fit in about 160 characters when you can manage it, and an email should lead with the one thing the customer needs to do.
Drafting the messages with an AI assistant
A chat assistant is good at the first draft and poor at your rules, so give it the rules. Do not paste customer names, addresses or order contents into a public tool; the draft needs only the structure. An illustrative prompt:
You write short customer messages for a small homebrew supplies shop. Tone: friendly,
plain, no exclamation marks, no emojis. Write five messages for click and collect:
1) order confirmation, 2) ready for collection, 3) reminder on day 2 of a 4-day hold,
4) final notice on day 4, 5) release and refund notice.
Rules: collection Tuesday to Saturday 10 to 5; ready by 5 pm same day if ordered before 3 pm,
otherwise by noon next day; hold 4 days; bring the order number; one extension on request;
after day 4 we release the stock and refund in full. Use [first name], [order number]
and [collection deadline] as placeholders. Under 60 words each. Email versions with a subject line.A typical output for message 2 might read:
Subject: Your order [order number] is ready to collect
Hi [first name], your order is ready at the shop. Collect it Tuesday to Saturday,
10 to 5, any time before [collection deadline]. Please bring your order number.
If you cannot make it, reply here and we will extend once. Thanks, [your name]What you would fix in that draft
Check three things. First, the placeholders: they must match what your platform inserts, because [collection deadline] is not a built-in field in either system, and you may have to type it by hand or use a plain phrase like "within 4 days". Second, the rule: does "any time before" say exactly when the hold ends, and is the deadline in the customer's mind the same as yours? Third, the length and tone: if it sounds like a template, cut a sentence and add one specific thing, such as "your order is on the shelf behind the till". Then send a real test order to yourself and read what arrives, not what you wrote.
The message sequence in full
Here is a filled-in set for the homebrew shop, with the placeholders left as they would appear. Adjust the details to your own rules.
1. CONFIRMATION
Thanks [first name], we have your order [order number]. It will be ready by [ready time].
Collect Tuesday to Saturday, 10 to 5. We hold orders for 4 days. Bring your order number.
2. READY
Hi [first name], order [order number] is ready. It is on the shelf by the till.
Please collect within 4 days. Reply here if you need more time.
3. REMINDER (day 2)
Hi [first name], a quick reminder that order [order number] is waiting for you.
We can hold it until [collection deadline]. Reply if you need an extension.
4. FINAL NOTICE (day 4)
Hi [first name], order [order number] is still here. Today is the last day we can hold it.
Reply by 5 pm to extend once, otherwise we will release the items and refund your order.
5. RELEASE
Hi [first name], we have released order [order number] and refunded it in full.
If you still want the items, you are welcome to order again.The collection window and the no-show rule
The two numbers that matter are the preparation time and the hold time. For the prep time, pick one you can meet on your worst day, not your best. If you say two hours and take four on a Saturday, customers arrive early, find nothing and lose trust. A conservative figure, met reliably, beats an impressive one met half the time.
For the hold time, balance two costs. Every day an item sits on your shelf is a day you cannot sell it to someone else. Say a shop has 12 uncollected orders a month at an average of $35 each, held for 4 days. That is $420 of stock tied up in a month, and if even three of those orders are never collected and you refund them, the real cost is the shelf space and the lost sales. Cutting the hold from 7 days to 4 would free about three days of that stock, and a reminder on day 2 often prompts the collection itself.
A fair no-show rule has four parts: a published hold time, a reminder, one extension on request, and a clear outcome (release and refund, or release with a restocking charge where goods are made to order). Rules on refunds and on charging fees differ, so check what applies to you, and put the rule where customers see it before they pay: the checkout page, the confirmation and your policy page.
Example: made-to-order goods
If an item was ordered specially, such as a custom-cut piece of equipment, the rule should be different, and customers should be told at checkout. Something like: "Special orders cannot be returned. If not collected within 14 days we will contact you before any action." Mark those items clearly in the platform, or sell them under a separate pickup rule. Do not use the same four-day release for them.
What happens at the counter
Most mistakes happen between the screen and the shelf. A simple routine for staff:
- Picking: print or open the order, pick the items, and tick each off. Check quantities, not only product names.
- Labelling: write the order number and the collection deadline on a label or sticky note, and put the order in one dedicated place.
- Marking ready: only press Ready after the order is physically on the shelf. Pressing it earlier sends a customer to an empty counter.
- Handover: ask for the order number or name, open the order, check the items together, then mark picked up.
- Age-restricted goods: check proof of age in person at handover, and keep the rule on the sheet.
Example: a realistic early-arrival mistake
A customer orders at 2.40 pm and sees "ready by 5 pm". A staff member marks it ready at 3.10 pm, keen to clear the queue, but forgets one box that arrives from the stockroom at 4. The customer arrives at 3.30, the order is incomplete, and the customer feels let down. The cause: marking ready before the order was complete. The fix: a rule that the person who presses Ready is the person who checks the shelf, and a quick tick-list stuck by the till.
When an item is out of stock or substituted
Online stock counts are rarely perfect in a small shop, so plan for the call you will have to make: one item on a paid order is missing or damaged. Decide in advance which of three responses you use, so staff do not improvise.
- Substitute: offer a close equivalent only with the customer's agreement, by message, before the order is marked ready.
- Part-fill: hand over what you have and refund the rest immediately.
- Cancel: refund in full when the missing item was the reason for the order.
An illustrative message for the first case: "Hi [first name], we are out of the 5 kg bag of pale malt in your order [order number]. We have the same malt in two 2.5 kg bags for the same price. Reply YES and we will swap it, or NO and we will refund that item. Your other items are ready." Ask the assistant to produce three versions of it in your tone, and check that the numbers in the message match the shelf. Never send a substitution message that you have not confirmed against the stock, since a wrong claim here becomes a refund and an annoyed customer.
Mixed orders: some items posted, some collected
If your store ships some products and offers pickup for others, an order with both can create two sets of messages. Test this case with a real order before launch, because it is the one most likely to confuse a customer: they may receive a "shipped" email and a "ready for pickup" email for the same order number. Add a sentence to the confirmation that explains it, such as "Your order will arrive in two parts: the kit by post, and the ingredients ready to collect from the shop." Shopify's article notes that a pickup-and-shipping combined order is a test drive on Plus and Enterprise, so on other plans, keep the two kinds of order separate and say so at checkout.
Where AI helps beyond the messages
- Answering common questions: a chat assistant on your website can answer "when can I collect", "do you hold orders" and "can someone else collect" from your rule sheet. See how to add an AI chatbot to your website, and give it only your policy text.
- Tone variants: ask for a friendlier or firmer version of the final notice.
- Other languages: have a fluent reader check any translations before you send them.
- Weekly review: paste anonymised notes of problem orders and ask for patterns, such as the same item always delaying readiness.
It does not replace your judgement on what to refund, whether to extend a hold for a regular customer, or how to handle a complaint. Those stay with you.
Keeping stock honest while orders wait
An order waiting on a shelf is stock you cannot sell. In both platforms, the order normally reserves the item when placed, so check that your counter sales are recorded in the same system, or two customers will want the last bag of hops. A weekly count of reserved items, against what is physically on the pickup shelf, catches mismatches quickly. For forecasting and reordering in a small shop, how small shops can use AI to forecast stock and reorder goes into the next step.
Checking after a month
Track five numbers: click and collect orders, average time from order to ready, orders collected on the first reminder, orders released, and extra purchases at the counter. Say the shop sees 64 orders, an average ready time of 3 hours, 9 reminders sent, 3 releases, and 11 customers who bought something else at handover. That tells you collection works, the reminder earns its keep, and the shop floor benefits from the visit. If releases creep above one in twenty, shorten the hold or tighten the first message. If you want to see the wider picture for a single shop, read click and collect for a single local shop with AI, and for an example of a collection-based business with its own reminders, dry cleaners and laundries are a close match.
Questions shop owners ask about click and collect
How long should I hold a click and collect order?
Three to five days suits most small shops, since it is long enough for a weekend and short enough to free the stock. Choose a figure, state it at checkout and in the ready message, and send one reminder before the hold ends so a release never feels like a surprise.
Should I charge for click and collect?
Most small shops offer it free, because it saves you postage and brings people into the shop. The cost to watch is picking and packing time. If orders are small and frequent, a minimum spend can protect your margin better than a fee.
Can AI write the messages without sounding robotic?
Yes, if you give it your shop's tone, the exact rule and one example of how you speak. Always read and edit the output, replace placeholders with the platform's fields, and send yourself a test order to see the real wording.
What if a customer never collects?
Follow the rule you published: a reminder, a final notice, then release the stock and refund as your terms say. Rules on refunds and goods differ, so check what applies to you, and keep a short log of each uncollected order.
Further reads
- How to Take Custom Cake Orders With an AI Enquiry Assistant — Time-sensitive pick-up orders with a fixed date.
- Can a Takeaway Take Orders on WhatsApp With AI? — Taking and confirming orders through a messaging app.
- How to Use Shopify Sidekick to Run Your Store Faster — Let Sidekick handle routine store admin around orders.
- AI for Butchers: Christmas Pre-Orders, Cut Lists and Pick-Up Slots — Set weight bands, cap pick-up slots, turn an order export into a cut list and send confirmations with AI, while allergen and label checks stay with you.
- Bakery Pre-Order Form for Christmas and Easter With AI — Form fields, slot caps, deposit wording and a reminder schedule, followed through a sample 120-order Christmas season with AI drafting the words.
- Comic Book Store Software: Pull Lists, Back Issues and AI Listings — Set up pull lists, list back issues from phone photos and send a weekly new-release email, with AI drafting the words and you checking the facts.
- AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.
Sources: Shopify help centre local pickup article, Square support article on email and text alerts for online orders, Square Community threads on pickup times (checked October 2026). Example shop, volumes and wording are illustrative.