It’s no secret that the modern consumer expects their online orders to be delivered as quickly, efficiently, and inexpensively as possible.

In fact, data collected by Conveyco shows that:

• 69% of consumers are less likely to shop with a retailer in the future if an order is not delivered within two days of the date promised
• 24% won’t go through with a purchase if no delivery date is provided
• 63% will abandon a purchase if shipping fees are too high

The bigger picture here is that today’s consumers want to have control over the delivery process. They don’t want delivery times to be at the company’s mercy; they want it when it’s most convenient for them. And they don’t want to have to pay extra for this level of convenience, either.

To be sure, many retailers are hard at work developing innovative delivery methods and other such processes. Others have skirted the issue of home delivery by providing their customers the option to pick up online orders at local physical locations.

Enter BOPIS.

What is BOPIS, and Why Should You Offer It?

BOPIS simply stands for “buy online, pick up in-store.”

Also referred to as “Click-and-Collect,” BOPIS is advantageous for both consumers and retailers alike, and has become popular in recent years.

As far as consumers go, 68% of American shoppers have used BOPIS more than once, and 50% say they’ve made purchasing decisions based on the availability of a BOPIS option in the recent past.

It’s not hard to see why BOPIS is catching on. According to data collected by the International Council of Shopping Centers:

• 49% of consumers use BOPIS to avoid shipping fees
• 40% use it to receive their orders faster
• 33% appreciate the assurance that the items will be available in-store

On the company’s side of things, offering some form of BOPIS option is a no-brainer.

57% of the companies surveyed by Signifyd reported that BOPIS orders account for anywhere from 11-30% of total online sales. In other words, by not offering a BOPIS option to your customers, you’re essentially leaving money on the table.

As we’ll discuss throughout this article, offering a BOPIS option can be beneficial for your business by:

• Decreasing fulfillment expenses
• Decreasing returns and exchanges
• Providing additional opportunities to engage with your customers

With 90% of retailers planning to implement BOPIS by next year and 10% of all online transactions predicted to be fulfilled via BOPIS by 2025, the writing on the wall is clear:

You need to optimize your Click-and-Collect processes soon—or risk falling behind your competition in the near future.

For retailers that are still operational to some degree during the COVID-19 shutdown, providing a BOPIS option may be the best way to enable your customers to continue doing business with your brand in a safe and secure manner

How to Optimize Your BOPIS Processes to Better Serve Your Customers and Grow Your Business

Before hopping on the BOPIS bandwagon, there are a number of questions to ask yourself.

Do You Have the Capacity for BOPIS?

The first thing to consider is whether or not your team has the ability to implement BOPIS effectively and efficiently.

Though BOPIS may look different from company to company, any implementation will require you to:

• Consistently and reliably make on-time deliveries to your brick-and-mortar locations
• Optimize your physical location’s setup for BOPIS purposes
• Integrate BOPIS into your existing processes (e.g., inventory management)
• Equip your staff to handle BOPIS operations (and make the most of BOPIS engagements)

These challenges are not to be taken lightly.

In fact, according to a report by NAPCO Research and Radial, these areas are of top concern for retailers aiming to implement BOPIS:

• 35% admit their stores’ layout plays a significant role in their BOPIS operations (for better or worse)
• 36% say syncing online and in-store inventory is an obstacle to success
• Most retailers agree that training and execution of BOPIS poses top challenges for the organization

In some cases, you may need to make relatively minor tweaks and changes to your current operations as you implement BOPIS. In others, more drastic action might be needed to get your BOPIS initiatives up and running.

The key is to make these changes without negatively impacting your current operations.

To be sure, offering BOPIS doesn’t mean you can slack off on your home delivery services. Nor should it siphon away from your in-store experience, or make you should stretch your teams too thin. A haphazard or underprepared approach to BOPIS simply isn’t going to lead to the outcome you’re hoping for.

So before you even consider offering a Click-and-Collect option to your customers, make sure your organization is in a position to implement these processes in a way that provides value to your customers and allows your business to thrive.

What are Your Customers’ Expectations?

While we’ve already discussed some of the key reasons the modern consumer appreciates a BOPIS option, your audience’s expectations will be specifically unique to them and your product in some way or another.

That said, offering a baseline BOPIS experience might not actually be enough to satisfy your target audience. Or, it may meet their basic expectations, but won’t do much else to set you apart from your competitors.

Your goal, then, is to determine the specific reasons your customers want your brand to provide a Click-and-Collect option.

Are they looking for convenience? You might consider providing multiple BOPIS options such as curbside pickup along with the typical “at the counter” method. As time goes on, you’ll be able to identify which option(s) your customers appreciate best—and phase out the less-desired ones.

Are they aiming to save cash? In addition to eliminating shipping costs whenever possible, consider running temporary promotions and offering discounts to BOPIS shoppers. This can serve to spread awareness of your BOPIS initiatives, and also to incentivize hesitant prospects to finalize their purchase.

Are they looking to give their orders a final once-over before leaving the store? In addition to adding BOPIS processes, consider evolving your brick-and-mortar stores to be more conducive to product demonstrations and trial uses. This can enhance not just your customer’s fulfillment-related experience with your brand, but also their experience with your physical store overall.

Generally speaking, your customers would prefer that you offer some level of BOPIS services as opposed to none at all. But what they really want is for you to understand why they’d rather head to your brick-and-mortar store than have their orders delivered to their home.

Figure out why this is, and you’ll be able to provide a unique and valuable BOPIS experience that your customers simply can’t get elsewhere.

How Will Offering BOPIS Lead to Business Growth?

You wouldn’t be investing all this extra time, money, and manpower into your BOPIS operations if it wasn’t going to lead to positive things for your business, right?

In the broadest sense, offering store pickup can lead to business growth in two key ways.

First, in staying aligned with your customers’ expectations as well as with your industry’s evolving standards, you’ll at the very least remain a competitive force in your niche. Conversely, not offering BOPIS can communicate to your customers that you’re not in tune with their current needs—which may turn them off from your brand completely.

The second way offering BOPIS can lead to business growth is by facilitating further engagement from Click-and-Collect customers, leading to additional sales. Amazingly, studies show that a whopping 85% of BOPIS consumers end up making additional purchases when picking up their orders. Needless to say, these upselling and cross-selling engagements provide major opportunities for business growth.

If an additional purchase isn’t on the table, brands can still use BOPIS to add value to the customer’s experience in a variety of ways.

A few examples:

• Providing supplemental documentation and in-person tips for best use of the purchased products
• Offering discounts on future purchases based on the customer’s history with the brand
• Delivering unique in-store experiences that can’t be replicated online

All in all, BOPIS can lead to business growth in a variety of ways. What’s important is that you know exactly how your business should expect to prosper by offering BOPIS—and working relentlessly to make it happen.

How Can You Standardize Your BOPIS Processes?

A directionless approach to implementing BOPIS can wreak havoc on your business in a number of ways:

• Overextended staff and resources
• Redundant or disconnected processes
• Missed sales opportunities
• Disappointing customer experiences

But a strategic, organized approach can all but ensure that your Click-and-Collect initiatives go off without a hitch. In developing this systematic approach, you’ll need to standardize operations revolving around:

• The Physical Environment: Create designated locations for your various BOPIS processes, such as inventory storage, customer pickup, and customer use (if necessary). Also, plan clear pathways throughout your store for BOPIS access while not interrupting the overall flow of foot traffic. Finally, exhibit clear signage for customer and staff use, enabling everyone access to where they need to be.
• Inventory Management: Determine adequate stock levels to account for BOPIS, online transactions, and in-store sales. Integrate BOPIS inventory management into overall processes, which may require upgrading or further tweaking your inventory management software.
• Staff and Customer Interactions: Staff your floor teams adequately to maintain the flow of operations and reduce wait times for BOPIS customers. Train your teams to take full advantage of BOPIS engagements by enhancing the customer experience and facilitating further engagement.
• Loss Prevention and Security: Develop a noninvasive process for checking identification and confirming transactions. Maintain a streamlined experience for the customer while implementing failsafes to minimize risk.

How you implement in-store pickup depends on your customers’ needs, your business goals, and your organization’s capacity to add BOPIS processes to its operations. But with more and more companies hopping on the BOPIS bandwagon—and more consumers expecting it from their favorite retailers—you’ll need to make it happen sooner rather than later.

By being systematic in your approach to BOPIS operations from the get-go, constantly improving it going forward will be that much easier.