If the pandemic has taught us anything about retail, it’s this: The buy online pickup in store (BOPIS) service is on the rise like never before.
The Basics:
Let’s start by better understanding the buy online pickup in store (BOPIS) concept.
By offering customers a BOPIS service, brick-and-mortar retailers are able to provide guests with a significantly more convenient shopping experience. Plus, it drives in-store traffic, which is crucial to the success of brick-and-mortar.
eCommerce behemoths like Amazon have taught today’s consumers to want – and need – their products at a faster, cheaper rate. BOPIS helps bridge that gap between the online behemoths and the physical brick-and-mortars.
How & When It Works:
BOPIS only works for stores that have both an online and physical storefront. For retailers that only have a physical in-store experience, a high-converting website with data enrichment, search functionality, and analytics must be launched before a BOPIS service can be implemented.
It’s easier than it sounds.
Companies like GroupBy Inc., a leading player in this market, work to remove the technology burden from retailers by developing best-in-breed solutions across an entire consumer journey and creating a new engagement model between retailers and their solution provider.
Once the backend is up and running, it’s important that the entire physical pickup process is smooth and convenient for the customer. You can offer curbside pickup for your guests or you can have your customers visit the service desk inside the store to pick up their items.
The Results:
In a nutshell, BOPIS enables retailers to provide better service, at a lower cost, at a faster speed – all while using their infrastructure to a competitive advantage against Amazon.
It also improves security. Customers know their items are ready and waiting for them at a specific location, completely eliminating the possibility of their package being stolen or being delivered to the wrong address.
Retailers that leverage BOPIS are also able to understand and reach a new online audience that they would not have been able to leverage with just a physical in-store option.
By implementing an eCommerce platform, which companies like GroupBy can provide, retailers can leverage real-time analytics and data to acquire new, or improve existing, customers. In turn, they can utilize targeted, timely, and effective e-marketing methods to reach those customers separately.
And finally, BOPIS provides a much more efficient way to track inventory. Orders can be fulfilled both from the distribution center or store shelves, wherever is faster, giving retailers access to a larger inventory. Plus, this allows retailers to have better insight into what product is available in real-time.
The Conclusion:
It’s evident that BOPIS is changing the retail landscape. Customers are receiving products at faster speeds without paying for any shipping or delivery fees. In turn, retailers are reaping the rewards with increased traffic to their physical store locations, which typically results in increased customer purchases.
If you are a retailer with both an online and physical storefront, BOPIS will work for you and promises to catapult your sales, reach, and reputation like never before.
