Buy Online Pickup In-Store: State of the Industry
A Closer Look at the Customer Experience
Over the holidays, the news highlighted the growth of retail sales (+5.2%) and specifically online sales growth (+18%), and rightfully so. But what is often buried in the headlines is the area of the greatest growth in retail – Buy Online and Pickup in Store (BOPIS) which was up by over 46% for the holidays. 1 The BOPIS experience is the focus of this collaborative research effort from Secret Shopper and IHL Group.
Between October and December of 2018, we sent 300 secret shoppers to research the BOPIS process for 10 top retailers across the US.
Introduction
The data we share here is both a current ranking of the retailers by experience, as well as a state of the industry – demonstrating where consumers are pleased with the BOPIS process and where things are falling short. It is important to note, the research here does not focus on a process that is prevalent among grocery stores, where products are delivered to a vehicle. Instead, it specifically examines BOPIS experiences where the consumer buys the product online, but must come into the physical store to pick up the items.
Part two has results of testing with 300 shoppers