Buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) has become a new commerce trend these days. Reports show that in 2020 more than 45% of top 500 retailers are offering BOPIS in their physical stores, an increase of 37% compared to previous years. This model is a blend of online and offline experience. On the one hand, it minimizes in-person interaction during the pandemic. On the other hand, it keeps customers from waiting for days to receive their package.
Besides BOPIS, retailers might also use cousin models such as:
- Curbside pickup or BOPAC: Customers order online and receive their items outside the store, often without leaving their car.
- BORIS: Buy-online-return-in-store.
- ROPIS: Reserve-online-pickup-in-store. This method allows customers to order an item for in-store pick, but not actually pay for it until they receive it.
Benefits of BIPOS
Reduce shipping costs
Delivery from a retailer’s distribution center to a customer’s front door might be expensive, considering the labour and packaging costs. Therefore, by letting customers pick up items from the store, merchants can still offer a pleasant experience while saving up costs and time.
Incentivize customers to buy more
One advantage of in-store purchase is that consumers might be tempted to buy more as they look around and browse for more products. It is also easier to upsell and cross-sell in person. That’s why BIPOS is like hitting two birds with one stone for retailers.
Better inventory management
With BIPOS, you don’t have to separate between online and offline inventory management anymore. Inventory can be updated from the distribution center or the store shelves, whatever faster, allowing for more centralized management.
How to set up BIPOS in BigCommerce
Merchants can set up BIPOS in BigCommerce based on the local zone. This allows customers within a certain perimeter to pick up their packages in-store. For ROPIS, you need to install another in-store payment method as well.
1. Create a local shipping zone with the ZIP or postal code
2. Activate Pickup In Store function
3. Set up a workflow to tag PIBOS orders to distinguish them from other types of purchases. At the same time, send a confirmation email to the customers.
Note that orders created with the in-store pickup method require offline transactions to occur, so they will need to be manually updated.
4. Order placed by customers using the in-store pickup method will have the status of Awaiting payment. Once the customer arrives and receives their package, go to View orders under the BigCommerce control panel and change the order status to completed.
This is how you can set up buy online, pick up in-store with BigCommerce. This is a purchase method that might help improve your store performance. ANd it can be done easily with Atom8. Install the app today to explore more of its benefits.
