BOPIS: FAQ about Buy Online, Pick-Up in eCommerce Store

BOPIS: Buy Online, Pick-Up in Store, is a way to offer a seamless commerce experience to your store visitors. It is essential for sales growth and customer loyalty. Retailers across industries have agreed that just building an ecommerce store will not drive sales. It is important to engage and offer personalized experiences to consumers to convert them into customers.

A Digital Commerce 360 survey from August 2020 found that 43.7% of the top 500 retailers with physical stores were offering BOPIS. 38% of retailers surveyed feel that BOPIS helped them in bringing shoppers to the store and this also helped attract shoppers to make additional purchases. With the need of BOPIS arising, it is important to understand what customers are expecting from it. In this article, we will answer frequently asked questions about BOPIS.

What is BOPIS in eCommerce Store?

BOPIS is an acronym used for Buy Online Pickup In Store. This practice gained momentum during the COVID-19 pandemic when social distancing was important. In BOPIS, customers can use online stores or mobile applications to buy products online and pick them up from one of the outlet stores of the brand.

Example: Think of a grocery mart. You walk through the shelves and handpick your items, put them into your cart, and finally wait in the queue at the billing counter to do a checkout. This buying journey takes at least two to three hours which can be easily minimized to less than an hour while offering homely comfort to consumers.

How does BOPIS work?

This feature offers flexibility to consumers on how they want their orders to be fulfilled. It also makes the entire buying journey of customers more efficient and convenient.

Here is how BOPIS works:

• Customers visit the ecommerce store and buy products online through its website or mobile app.
• Once the order is placed successfully and the payment is completed (online or offline mode), the store fulfills the online order and notifies the pickup date, time, and outlet center.
• The customer picks up the order from the outlet center.

What are the requirements to allow you to offer BOPIS?

In order to offer BOPIS you first need to have an ecommerce store or an app. If you do not have one, you can hire an ecommerce developer to build an online store for your business. You will also need retail stores or outlets of your brand to act as a hub for customers to pick up their items. Big brands have started setting up pick-up points that are cost-effective and efficient. Since there will be multiple outlets, it is important to have BPOIS solution that connects your POS inventory across all locations

What opportunities can retailers take advantage of with BOPIS?

BOPIS is becoming an essential requirement for retailers.  McKinsey and Co., found that 56% of shoppers plan to continue using BOPIS after COVID-19 and a survey finds that 65% preferred BOPIS to avoid shipping charges. With the majority of customers opting for BOPIS, retailers must take advantage of the opportunity and offer a seamless consumer experience. With BOPIS you can gain an edge against ecommerce giants such as Amazon, keep up with competitors, and cater to millennials.

What are the challenges of managing BOPIS?

While BOPIS is lucrative and has helped offer a better customer experience, it does have few challenges such as,

• Logistics and inventory tracking issue
• Managing and training staff
• Customer Information security issues
• Return on Investment

Do you want BOPIS implemented in your ecommerce store?

If your online store is built using Shopify, Magento or WooCommerce; or if it is made using customer PHP, Laravel, or similar programming languages then you can hire ecommerce developers from Atlas SoftWeb. We have a team of expert ecommerce developers who can work closely with you in implementing and customizing BOPIS to meet your organizational requirements. Speak to our ecommerce experts now!