BOPIS stands for Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store (also known as click-and-collect). It is an omnichannel fulfillment strategy where a customer purchases a product through a digital platform (website or app) and collects it in person at a physical retail location. (IBM)
In this blog, Kyanon Digital will help you explore two key questions: What is BOPIS in retail, and how can it enhance your retail strategy?
Key takeaways
- Explains that transforming static storefronts into decentralized distribution hubs slashes notoriously high last-mile logistics costs, a transition the Kyanon Digital team finds successful only when businesses first establish strict real-time inventory visibility.
- Reveals how converting digital web traffic into physical store visits reliably captures lucrative impulse purchases, an outcome field experts note is highly dependent on designing prominent pickup zones and training staff for natural cross-selling.
- Warns against launching a same-day pickup service before unifying the underlying technology stack, as practical application shows this strategy requires a centralized order management system to intelligently route stock and prevent fulfillment errors.
- Clarifies that offering immediate, secure product collection builds defensive customer loyalty, a result Kyanon Digital observes provided that automated communication tools are strictly utilized to eliminate confusing in-store wait times.
Further reading:
- Retail Supply Chain Digitalization: A Guide for Singapore Brands
- Retail Order Management Software: How to Unify Your Operations
- Best Retail Order Management Systems for Omnichannel Brands
Why is BOPIS a Game-Changer for Retailers?
BOPIS is a retail game-changer because it perfectly blends e-commerce convenience with physical storefront immediacy, significantly boosting a retailer’s profitability, footprint, and customer loyalty. By serving as the ultimate hybrid shopping experience, it resolves major supply chain friction points for businesses while satisfying modern consumer demands.
- Massive savings on logistics & shipping: Last-mile delivery is notoriously the most expensive part of the fulfillment lifecycle, accounting for up to 20% of a product’s total shipping costs.
- Boosted store traffic & impulse upselling: BOPIS forces purely digital traffic through physical brick-and-mortar doors.
- Accelerated order fulfillment: Traditional e-commerce delivery takes an average of 2 to 3 business days. BOPIS leverages existing in-store inventory to offer same-day or even immediate pick-up windows (such as Target’s two-hour pickup program).
- Advanced inventory & warehouse efficiency: Instead of separating digital and physical supply chains, BOPIS turns local retail storefronts into decentralized distribution hubs. Retailers can optimize stock levels across channels by drawing from both store and warehouse inventory to fulfill orders seamlessly.
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How does the BOPIS strategy work?
Modern shoppers crave options, convenience, and flexibility in how their orders are fulfilled, as well as quick and efficient purchase and return processes. BOPIS is essential to provide such convenience by allowing customers to choose which items they want to purchase immediately and which ones they are willing to wait for.
Here is how the BOPIS process works.
Customers buy online
To provide convenience, retailers must allow customers to make purchases online or through an app while selecting a pickup time and location for their items.
By providing real-time local inventory information, customers can easily select the most convenient time and location to pick up their products.
The store fulfills the order
The BOPIS ordering process can occur in two scenarios.
If the item is available at the selected local store, a store associate can quickly locate, pack, and hold the order for the customer, notifying them via email when it is ready for pickup. This saves time for customers who would otherwise have to search the store aisles and removes obstacles to fulfilling their orders.
Alternatively, if the item is not in stock at the store, the associate will need to order it from a nearby store or warehouse. Once it arrives, the customer is notified and can pick it up at their convenience.
The customer picks up the order
Customers have two options to pick up their orders. They can go to the designated online pickup area inside the store, where a store associate will hand over their items. Alternatively, stores are offering curbside pickup, where customers can stay in their cars and receive their orders with minimal documentation, such as their photo ID or driver’s license.
Regardless of the pickup method, customers should be guided seamlessly through the process, receiving instructions through a text message, push notification, or order confirmation email that includes a receipt or QR code.
How can BOPIS benefit your retail strategy?
Integrating BOPIS into your retail strategy directly improves your bottom line by slashing fulfillment overhead, unlocking incremental revenue, and maximizing the value of your brick-and-mortar footprint. It transforms your physical stores from static showrooms into high-velocity local fulfillment centers.
Implementing BOPIS can optimize your retail strategy across four key business areas.
Drastically lower operations costs
- Bypass Last-Mile Delivery Costs: Cuts out the most expensive portion of your logistics chain by letting customers handle the final transport.
- Consolidated Inventory Shipping: Allows you to ship inventory in bulk to stores via standard replenishment routes rather than paying for individual residential carrier fees.
Drive in-store foot traffic & “attachment sales”
- Bridges Channels: Converts digital web traffic into physical storefront visits.
- Captures Impulse Purchases: Brings motivated shoppers past your physical shelves, leading roughly 30% to 40% of BOPIS users to buy additional items once inside the store.
Improve working capital & inventory turn
- Decentralized Warehousing: Uses your existing store shelves as hyper-local distribution hubs, minimizing the need for massive, centralized e-commerce warehouses.
- Faster Stock Clearance: Helps clear slow-moving physical inventory by making it instantly available for purchase to a much wider online audience.
Build defensive customer loyalty
- Defeats “E-Commerce Friction”: Gives customers a free shipping alternative and eliminates the fear of package theft or missed deliveries.
- Provides Instant Gratification: Beats pure-play e-commerce delivery speeds by letting customers secure and collect an item within hours, keeping them within your retail ecosystem instead of turning to competitors.
What are BOPIS best practices?
BOPIS best practices focus on real-time data, clear store layouts, and fast fulfillment to bridge digital and physical retail.
Inventory and technology
- Maintain real-time inventory visibility: Connect your online store, point-of-sale (POS), and warehouse systems into a single view so customers never order an item that is actually out of stock.
- Use modern Order Management Systems (OMS): Automate order routing, stock allocation, and notifications to speed up fulfillment times, ideally under two hours from click to ready.
In-store experience and layout
- Place pickup zones prominently: Position your dedicated pickup counter or lockers near the front of the store with clear digital displays and in-store signage.
- Designate curbside parking: If offering curbside delivery, mark specific numbered parking spaces and use app-based GPS tracking or check-in buttons so associates know the moment a customer arrives.
- Encourage add-on sales: Leverage the natural foot traffic of pickup visits by training store associates to assist with cross-selling, accessory upsells, or easy on-the-spot returns.
Communication and operations
- Send automated status updates: Keep customers informed with real-time SMS or push notifications as soon as an order is confirmed, packed, and ready for collection.
- Train store associates thoroughly: Equip staff with mobile scanners and clear protocols to pick items accurately, handle customer service issues quickly, and avoid long wait times at the counter.
What technology helps retailers fulfill BOPIS and ship-from-store orders?
Retailers rely on a connected technology stack to maintain inventory visibility, route orders intelligently, and help store associates pick, pack, and hand off or ship products efficiently. From Kyanon Digital’s perspective, successful BOPIS implementation depends not just on individual tools, but on how well these systems integrate to create a seamless experience across digital and physical retail channels.
- Order Management System (OMS): Acts as the central brain. It provides network-wide, real-time inventory visibility, tracks the order lifecycle, and uses intelligent order orchestration to automatically route BOPIS or ship-from-store orders to the closest store with available stock.
- E-Commerce Platform: The digital storefront where customers browse and choose “pick up in store” or local delivery options at checkout. It syncs live stock data directly from the OMS.
- Point of Sale (POS) & Store Commerce Apps: Systems (such as Shopify Point of Sale or Dynamics 365 Commerce) that let store associates view incoming online orders, process payments or inventory status changes, and manage the pickup workflow.
- Mobile scanning & picking devices: Handheld barcode scanners, mobile computers, or smartphone apps that guide store employees through the aisles to quickly pick and pack items accurately.
- Item-Level RFID Technology: Radio-frequency identification tags that dramatically increase in-store inventory accuracy (often from ~70% to over 98%), preventing false-positive stock listings and order cancellations.
- Automated customer communication tools: Integrated messaging software that automatically triggers real-time email, SMS, or app notifications to alert customers when their order is received, being prepared, or ready for pickup/shipment.
Examples of BOPIS
Walmart
Walmart is a very famous retailer in America and is considered the top retailer with BOPIS according to Risnews.com. Customers may shop Walmart’s extensive grocery variety online and have their items prepared and ready for pick up whenever they feel convenient. Walmart’s grocery pickup combines the simplicity of online shopping with the comfort of never having to leave the car, all at no extra charge.
Nordstrom
Nordstrom has found success with its Nordstrom Local model, launched in 2017 and specifically tailored to BOPIS orders. In Q1 of 2022, 39% of total Nordstrom sales were digital, a success that the company’s CEO attributed to BOPIS.
According to Erik Nordstrom, BOPIS comprised 10% of Nordstrom.com demand, a 2% increase from the previous year.
Nike
In the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, Nike has successfully implemented their BOPIS strategy, which provides customers with a flexible shopping experience. Here’s how it works:
- Shop at Nike.com as usual, choose your items, and head to checkout.
- Click “PICK UP” in the shipping section to see if your items are available to pick up at a nearby Nike store.
- If your items are eligible, select your preferred store and confirm your contact information.
- The order will be ready, usually within two hours, and they will email you a QR code when it’s ready for pickup.
- No-contact Curbside Pickup: Call the store when you arrive (you’ll receive an email with the store’s phone number). A Nike Store employee will talk you through the pickup process, check your ID, and facilitate the pickup.
- Store Pickup: Go to the store’s pickup desk, provide the code to scan, and take the handoff.
Results: Nike’s digital and direct sales are up. The company announced its results for its third financial quarter for 2019. Total revenue was up 7% to $9.6 billion, while digital sales were up 36%, making it Nike Digital’s first billion-dollar quarter.
Key Steps to Implementing BOPIS Successfully
Optimizing Inventory Management
One of the biggest challenges in BOPIS adoption is ensuring real-time inventory accuracy. Businesses must:
- Invest in real-time inventory tracking systems to prevent stock discrepancies.
- Use AI-driven demand forecasting to avoid stockouts and overstocks.
- Ensure seamless synchronization between online and in-store inventory for a smooth experience.
A case study by Walmart shows that their investment in AI-powered inventory management has led to 25% fewer fulfillment errors in their BOPIS operations.
Streamlining Order Fulfillment & Pickup Process
To make BOPIS a smooth experience, businesses need:
- Dedicated in-store pickup areas to reduce customer wait time.
- Efficient order processing workflows that allow employees to quickly fulfill online orders.
- The integration of automated notifications (SMS, email, push alerts) to inform customers when their orders are ready.
For instance, according to Retail Touchpoints, Target’s Drive Up service has significantly reduced pickup time, ensuring that 80% of customers receive their items within 2 minutes of arrival.
Enhancing the Omnichannel Shopping Experience
A successful BOPIS strategy is more than just a fulfillment method—it’s part of a broader omnichannel strategy. Businesses should:
- Offer mobile-friendly order tracking for seamless shopping experiences.
- Enable cross-channel returns, allowing customers to return online purchases in-store.
- Leverage loyalty programs to encourage repeat purchases during pickup.
Nike, for example, uses its Nike App to offer personalized BOPIS incentives, leading to a 30% increase in store visits from online shoppers.
Training Employees for Efficiency
Retail staff play a crucial role in BOPIS success. Businesses must:
- Train employees on order fulfillment best practices.
- Equip store associates with handheld devices for quick order processing.
- Implement customer service training to ensure positive interactions at pickup locations.
Brands like Best Buy have seen a 15% increase in customer satisfaction by improving their in-store pickup experience through staff training programs.
Conclusion
The BOPIS strategy has grown rapidly in recent years as more consumers seek out its convenience and flexibility, and retailers recognize the potential for increased sales and reduced costs associated with fulfilling online orders.
If you are looking for a reliable technology partner that offers solutions to enable BOPIS capabilities, Kyanon Digital is here to help. Contact Kyanon Digital to learn more about BOPIS and how to optimize your retail strategy.
References
- What is BOPIS in retail? – IBM
- Nordstrom quarterly sales exceed pre-pandemic levels – Digital Commerce 360
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