BOPIS meaning
BOPIS acronym — also known as click and collect and curbside pickup — stands for Buy Online, Pick Up In Store. With a BOPIS model, online shoppers don't have to deal with any additional shipping costs, uncertain delivery times and undesirable returns of their online orders.
Why retailers adopt BOPIS?
When shopping online, customer expectations are all about convenience. In reality, they can't always admit that online deliveries fit their locations, schedules, seasonal life patterns and parallel shopping experiences, i.e., other deliveries they're expecting at the same time.
In 2022, as many as 85% of online consumers in Europe said that a poor delivery experience would prevent them from a repeat purchase with the same online retailer. At the same time, according to the US data, 59% of respondents would choose pickup in store as a delivery method at checkout, and 83% of consumers shopped online with BOPIS already in 2019, even before the pandemic.
More and more retailers adopt the BOPIS model to provide excellent delivery convenience on consumer's terms, while increasing traditional in-store foot traffic at the same time — the best of both worlds.
It's an experience-focused omnichannel strategy that works as a strategic advantage in an extremely competitive retail environment. Omnichannel means that sales and fulfillment take place on multiple channels — physical shops, online storefronts, social media — in a seamlessly connected, unified journey.
How does BOPIS work
When a retailer relies on both physical stores and an e-commerce storefront, they can integrate an in-store pickup as one of the delivery methods at checkout.
Customer places an online order on the website
The customer makes an online purchase from the comfort of home via the retailer's website and chooses in-store pickup location on the checkout page. Sometimes they may only reserve online items to make sure it's exactly what they need at the store.
Retailer fulfills the order at a physical store location
What happens next in the order fulfillment process depends on the store inventory.
Items are available at the customer's local store
The store associate at the customer's preferred location sees the order in real time, packs the available on-shelf items and prepares them for pickup.
Items are not in stock at the customer's chosen location
If the ordered items aren't in stock at the customer's location, the store associate orders them from another store location or the main distribution center.
Customer picks up the order at the preferred location
The customer receives an email or text notification which informs them that order's ready at the preferred store location.
Benefits of BOPIS orders
- Boost in conversion. Excellent click and collect experience drives additional cart items and repeat purchases;
- Higher inventory efficiency. Each physical store location turns into a micro-fulfillment hub — a small-scale warehouse in a densely populated area with a higher inventory turnover vs. aggressive sales and waste.
- Reduced shipping costs. BOPIS has become a smarter logistics move with no last-mile delivery costs for both consumers and retailers.
- Faster, same-day delivery. Research shows that in-store pickup is already a preferred delivery option for many consumers, and its popularity will keep growing.
- Greener online shopping. The last-mile supply chain made possible by local fulfillment centers could lower last-mile delivery emissions by 17–26% by 2025.
Implement BOPIS for your retail business
As good as it is, BOPIS requires an investment of money and resources on your part. Retailers need to have a system in place that can handle online purchases for curbside pickup and a staff to manage it.
Solutions like Ingrid In Store help you reinvent your brick-and-mortar stores by turning them into e-commerce hubs for faster, greener and more flexible deliveries.
“We want to integrate our e-commerce with retail to create a seamless omnichannel strategy. It requires a modern tech platform and makes Ingrid the only alternative.”
Stefan von Stein, Director eCommerce & Digital Marketing, Swedish Match
Use retail stores to your advantage.
Find out how Ingrid In-store product can help you fulfill e-commerce orders directly in retail stores to make your delivery promise much faster and greener.
