If you see a line of cars waiting at a nearby big box store, it’s probably for BOPIS. That would be Buy Online, Pick-Up In Store. Sometimes called click-and-collect, more consumers are opting for this online fulfillment choice for its convenience, timeliness, and lack of delivery fee. Merchants like it since last mile delivery is costly and requires more staff. Many restaurants have always provided take-out service and now retail stores are finding it works very well for them, too. BOPIS is here to stay and represents another e-commerce trend that has been accelerated due to Covid-19.
The following excerpt from a Yahoo Finance article reports more on the topic:
If any retailers were still in denial about the shift toward e-commerce, the coronavirus pandemic took care of that in dramatically swift fashion.
At the end of Q2 2019, e-commerce represented 10.8% of U.S. retail spend. In Q2 2020, amid the height of pandemic lockdowns, e-commerce spending surged 44.5% — its biggest quarterly growth in 20 years.
The surge has been driven not just by Americans staying at home but also retailers ramping up their BOPIS options (buy online, pick up in store). BOPIS encompasses curbside pickup and also “ship from store,” a relatively new option that gets items to you faster by shipping from your nearest store rather than from a warehouse. Amid the pandemic, many stores that were closed to in-person shoppers still had employees inside, packaging and shipping orders from the store.
Big brick-and-mortar chains like Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Urban Outfitters, and Dick’s Sporting Goods have all cited BOPIS as a game-changer on recent earnings calls—and they don’t expect the trend to slow after the pandemic.
Overview by Raymond Pucci, Director, Merchant Services at Mercator Advisory Group