This was also my experience when I lived in the U.S., but in the U.K. my experience with in-store pickup (usually called "click and collect") has been pretty go

This was also my experience when I lived in the U.S., but in the U.K. my experience with in-store pickup (usually called "click and collect") has been pretty good. Not sure why. Virtually everyone does it in the U.K., both higher-end places (John Lewis, Marks and Spencer) and lower-end places (Argos, Wilko), and all seem to be pretty efficient at it. Argos especially is much better than anything I've seen in the U.S. in that regard. They have a subset of more commonly ordered items labeled "FastTrack" items, meaning you can typically pick up within 1 hour at any location (you can check ahead of time whether the item is in stock for 1-hour pickup at your desired location, but it usually is). Other items are typically available the next day, with the exception of some larger stuff (furniture, etc.) that might take longer. And if you don't want in-store pickup, you can get home delivery within a chosen 3-hour window the next day, which I find a lot more convenient than even Amazon Prime, where you can't specify which time of day you want the delivery.