Trends & Best BOPIS Practices to Keep Up With in 2020

Offering BOPIS appeals to consumers, but retailers need to be mindful of their approach to provide the ultimate service to consumers. Here’s a list highlighting where retailers need to focus most of their efforts. Creating the perfect customer experience boils down to 7 best practices:

1. Offer brilliant deals & experiences: Most shoppers opt for BOPIS to avoid the high shipping costs. This shows that consumers do look for ways to cut costs. However, a loyal customer will not mind paying more for a product if the whole experience is tailored to their needs. With the proper knowledge, you will grow a loyal customer base. Shoppers always look for great deals and offer special discounts to keep them coming back for more. Most brands provide BORIS along with BOPIS. The ability to return products in-store makes it more convenient for shoppers.

Steve Madden recognized the power of customer experience tailored to each shopper’s needs. Jeff Silverman made sure to showcase informative reviews from other shoppers onsite. He also developed free and premium loyalty programs that offer exciting perks, from free two-day shipping to enticing deals. Lastly, checkout is seamless on both desktop and mobile. 

2. Make the Inventory management system accurate and real-time: Online and in-store inventory should be synchronized and considered one entity. Remember to keep a minimum stock limit for each product – once the stock limit hits that number at a specific store location, the BOPIS option will be switched off for the particular product. This ensures a pleasant shopping experience both online and offline at each store. 

Nike started using a centralized management system to clean up and streamline a somewhat disordered inventory system and its warehouse system. This ensured that anyone could shop from anywhere and have the products available at a location of their convenience. A design like this enabled them to reduce inventory costs, increase efficiency, and their revenues went up by 8% in 2017

3. Make the buying journey quick & smooth: Around 87% of online shoppers abandon their carts during the checkout if the process is too long or complicated. Maintain a minimum number of steps in the checkout process to reduce the number of dropoffs. 

4. Make information readily available: As soon as an order is placed, send a  confirmation immediately. Always include simple and understandable directions, when the purchase is ready, and an alert when it is prepared, where to pick it up in store, and what forms of identification are required. 

5. Make it conveniently located: A key to making BOPIS successful is ensuring the pickup locations are easy to find. A common misconception is that D2C brands cannot incorporate BOPIS because they don’t have a brick & mortar location, but this isn’t the case. Many self-service solutions, like automated smart lockers, effectively bridge the gap between physical and virtual stores. In essence, BOPIS proves to be more beneficial to the D2C industry.

6. Make your in-store experience mirror the online store: When shoppers purchase online, the experience is seamless, smooth, and quick. There is the added feature of knowing exactly what customers like and dislike and suggesting products accordingly to upsell and cross-sell. When the shopper comes into the store to pick up the product, ensure the experience is the same. Keep the purchased products ready for pickup. Use the customer behavioral data collected online to upsell & cross-sell products (based on the items purchased) when they come to pick up their purchases in-store. Keep those products shortlisted and ready to showcase too. 

7. Make sure to avoid the speed trap: Beware the jaws of speed. While speed, ease, and convenience may be vital to satisfying the customer, they cannot always be reflected in real life. In-store experiences become incredibly important – assign knowledgeable staff to handle all BOPIS orders, answer product & brand-related queries and ensure shoppers avoid massive & slow checkout lines. 

Make sure the package is ready and waiting for pickup. When the product is readily available at the counter, the shopper is 24% more likely to buy something else on that trip and 17% more likely to use the service again and recommend it to others. Their 

The BOPIS model can only be successful when the best practices are incorporated, and the specialized flow for every brand is analyzed to avoid loopholes. A common practice amongst brands that have already included BOPIS is hiring secret shoppers to go through the entire flow and identify any gaps or room for improvement online and offline at every location. 

BOPIS is not a trend – it is the evolution of eCommerce and the amalgamation of online and brick & mortar. Brands incorporating BOPIS will flourish and prosper in the current dynamic retail ecosystem.