House of Fraser and Caffe Nero have announced a joint venture that will see customers shopping online and collecting orders during their coffee break.

Debuting on 16 October 2014 in Cambridge, a Caffe Nero/House of Fraser store will offer coffee downstairs and a click and collect service upstairs. The move apparently made sense, as House of Fraser has no stores in the city of Cambridge.

Downstairs, in Caffe Nero, it will be coffee as usual with the addition of several tablet and touch screen devices that will allow guests to shop online. While upstairs in House of Fraser, customers will be greeted with a branded ‘front of house’ featuring till and order points, product displays, beacon technology run mannequins to interact with customers via mobile, and fitting rooms.

Andy Harding, executive director of multichannel at House of Fraser, said: “We have a high density of online shoppers within Cambridge postcodes, so having a physical brand presence was an obvious move.

“As part of our expansion plans we are keen to increase our physical footprint, especially in towns and cities where a store isn’t present. With a growing café culture and more customers shopping on the go with mobile devices, we believe we’re providing our customers with an innovative solution which meets the needs of today’s busy consumer.”