Photo: Target
On Christmas Eve, Target prepared nearly five times the number of products for curbside pickup of online orders than it did the year prior. The finding provides more evidence that holiday procrastinators have discovered the convenience of buying online and picking up in-store.
In a blog entry, Target CEO Brian Cornell saw the last-minute BOPIS strength as a sign that “consumers are more and more comfortable shopping later in the season.”
Target’s holiday results also show customers have become comfortable with in-store pickup. Overall, sales through Order Pickup, Drive Up and Shipt-supported same-day delivery were up more than 50 percent during the November-to-December period. Stores fulfilled more than 80 percent of items bought digitally.
“We knew our same-day services would be a lifesaver for busy guests, and it was great to see so many families adopting them to make life a little easier,” wrote Mr. Cornell. “The speed and convenience clearly resonated.”
Other signs of in-store pickup’s strength came in a study from Adobe, which reported BOPIS increased 35 percent over the holiday period. Shoppers used the option most frequently during the seven days just before Christmas.
Adobe believes the core reasons for BOPIS’s growth are getting product sooner than delivery by mail, saving money on shipping costs and theft prevention. Adobe also said that based on its own survey of more than 1,000 consumers, 82 percent of BOPIS users are likely to shop for additional items at the store.
Salesforce calculated that retailers that offered BOPIS saw 56 percent more active digital shoppers — people who use site search, add a product to their cart, start to checkout or complete a transaction — in the last five days of the season. Additionally, those retailers collected 18 percent more digital revenue share after the shipping cutoff.
Mobile is also seen helping to drive holiday BOPIS. NPD’s 2019 Holiday Purchase Intentions Survey projected that a quarter of online shoppers would use a smartphone for holiday shopping — up from 19 percent two years ago — and that these on-the-go shoppers were more likely than those using other devices, like a laptop, to use BOPIS.
- Target Reports Holiday Sales and Maintains EPS Guidance – Target
- Target CEO Brian Cornell Talks Holiday 2019 – Target
- Procrastinators abounded this Christmas. And more retailers pushed people to stores to pick up online orders – CNBC
- Adobe Rolls Out Solution to Help Retailers Deliver Better BOPIS Experience – Women's Wear Daily
- Salesforce Reveals 2019 Holiday Digital Sales Grew 8 Percent to $723 Billion Globally – Salesforce
- Ready or Not, Here Comes the 2019 Holiday Shopping Season – NPD
- Is BOPIS over its growing pains? – RetailWire