Drive-Thru bottle shop goes high-tech: Dan Murphy’s launching direct-to-boot service with number plate recognition

Close your eyes and picture your local drive-thru bottle shop. Two lanes normally, people parking up, walking into a small store grabbing what they need, or just asking out the window and having a six-pack handed over on the way to a BBQ. Reimagine things with Dan Murphy’s new drive-thru service putting what you want right in your boot!

In 2020, because we’re both lazy and surrounded by technology, mixed with a contactless world during a global pandemic, things are a whole lot different.

With Dan Murphy’s you can now order online, enter your car number plate, then rock up to the store, drive in, park up and wait for staff to deliver your order direct to your boot.

This would have to be the first use of number plate recognition in customer service. Sure Westfield do it at their upgraded car parks to ensure a ticketless experience (and stop people just coming back into the carpark again after their first three hours), but this is next level.

Dan Murphy’s General Manager of Digital Claire Smith says “We are using technology to offer increasing convenience to customers, and the Covid crisis has accelerated the demand for innovative ecommerce solutions,”

Launching first in Sydney’s Northern Beaches at Manly Vale, the service looks set to be rolled out to more stores across Australia in the next year.

Stats from Dan Murphy’s shows an increase of 61 percent in the use of contactless pickup in this financial year – of course.

The direct-to-boot service launched in 170 stores in April, but this new number plate recognition system means you don’t need to send a text when you arrive.

“Direct-to-boot service started as an idea to help customers and team members socially distance, but customers have responded to the convenience of it, so we are not only keeping the service indefinitely, but expanding the offering and making it even more convenient – like in the Manly Vale Dan Murphy’s store case,”

You can order online, and try it out – if you’re near Manly Vale of course. Otherwise, you can still order online and have it delivered to your boot, it’s just a little more manual.