Buy Online Pick Up In Store

Buy Online, Pick Up In Store (BOPIS) is a retail fulfillment method that allows customers to purchase products through a retailer’s website or app and collect them at a physical store location. Also known as click-and-collect, BOPIS bridges online shopping convenience with the immediacy of in-store pickup, eliminating shipping wait times and delivery fees.

What is Buy Online Pick Up In Store?

BOPIS combines two shopping channels into a single transaction. The customer browses and pays online, then visits a designated store to pick up the order, often within hours. The process typically involves real-time inventory visibility (so customers can see what is available at their nearest store), an order confirmation with a pickup time estimate, and a dedicated pickup area or counter inside the store.

The model has several variants. Curbside pickup allows customers to remain in their vehicle while a store associate brings the order out. Locker pickup uses secure storage units inside or outside the store where customers retrieve orders using a code. Ship-to-store routes online orders from a warehouse to the customer’s preferred store for pickup.

BOPIS requires tight integration between a retailer’s ecommerce platform, inventory management system, and store operations. The customer-facing experience is simple, but the back-end coordination is complex: inventory must be accurate in real-time, store staff need picking and staging workflows, and the system must handle exceptions like out-of-stock items after an order is placed.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated BOPIS adoption dramatically. What was a convenience feature became a necessity when stores restricted in-person shopping. Many retailers that launched curbside pickup as an emergency measure in 2020 have since made it a permanent and growing part of their fulfillment strategy.

Buy Online Pick Up In Store in Practice

Target reported that its drive-up (curbside BOPIS) service grew by over 700% in 2020 and continued growing afterward. By 2024, Target’s same-day fulfillment services (including BOPIS and drive-up) accounted for more than $20 billion in annual sales. The retailer fulfills 97% of its digital orders from stores, making physical locations double as distribution centers.

Walmart processes over 4,700 stores for pickup and delivery. The company’s BOPIS and curbside services contributed to ecommerce revenue exceeding $82 billion in fiscal year 2024. Walmart’s app allows customers to schedule pickup windows and receive real-time notifications when their order is ready, typically within 4 hours of placing it.

Best Buy found that BOPIS customers spend 40% more than online-only shoppers because pickup visits generate additional in-store purchases. Approximately 60% of Best Buy’s online orders are fulfilled through store pickup, making it the retailer’s dominant digital fulfillment channel.

Lowe’s invested $1.7 billion in supply chain improvements to support BOPIS and same-day delivery. Their pickup lockers, installed at over 1,700 locations, allow customers to collect orders 24/7 without waiting for associate assistance. The lockers reduced average pickup wait time from 5 minutes to under 30 seconds.

Why Buy Online Pick Up In Store Matters for Marketers

BOPIS drives incremental revenue through add-on purchases. Research from the International Council of Shopping Centers found that 67% of BOPIS customers buy additional items when they visit the store for pickup. This makes BOPIS not just a fulfillment method but a traffic driver for physical retail.

For marketers, BOPIS creates a hybrid customer journey that generates data from both digital and physical touchpoints. This data (what people browse online, what they pick up in store, what they add during pickup visits) enables more precise targeting and personalization than either channel provides alone.

BOPIS also reduces one of ecommerce’s biggest conversion barriers: shipping costs and wait times. By offering free, same-day pickup, retailers remove the friction that causes cart abandonment at checkout. Baymard Institute data shows that unexpected shipping costs remain the number one reason shoppers abandon carts.

Related Terms

• Omnichannel Retail
• Unified Commerce
• Abandoned Cart
• Checkout Optimization
• Quick Commerce

FAQ

What is the difference between BOPIS and ship-to-store?

BOPIS fulfills orders from existing store inventory, typically ready within hours. Ship-to-store routes items from a warehouse or another store location to the customer’s preferred pickup point, usually taking 3 to 7 days. BOPIS is faster but limited to in-stock items. Ship-to-store offers the full online catalog but sacrifices speed for selection.

What percentage of retailers offer BOPIS?

As of 2024, approximately 75% of the top 100 US retailers offer some form of BOPIS or curbside pickup. Among all retailers, adoption varies widely by size: large chains have near-universal adoption, while smaller retailers are still implementing the required technology and operational workflows.

What are the biggest operational challenges with BOPIS?

Inventory accuracy is the primary challenge. If the system shows an item in stock but the store cannot locate it, the customer experience breaks down. Other challenges include allocating store labor for picking and staging orders, managing peak-time congestion at pickup counters, and handling returns for BOPIS orders (which may need different processing than in-store or shipped returns).

Does BOPIS cannibalize in-store sales?

Data consistently shows the opposite. BOPIS increases total sales because pickup visits generate additional purchases. The 67% add-on purchase rate means BOPIS customers are among a retailer’s most valuable segments. Rather than replacing in-store shopping, BOPIS creates a new occasion for store visits that would not have happened otherwise.