According to a study by StellaService on BOPIS (buy online, in-store pickup), online pickup takes an average of 5.4 minutes between entering the store and checking out while standard in-store shopping takes 7 minutes on average.
The study looked at 11 retailers: Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowe's, Macy's, Nordstrom, Office Depot, Sears, Staples, Target, Toys "R" Us and Walmart. Two stores of each chain were evaluated with both walk-in and BOPIS shoppers entering the store at the same time. All purchases were made in the South region during the week of 10/27/14.
BOPIS shoppers spent the least amount of time in Office Depot (2 minutes) and the longest in Home Depot and Macy's (8.5 minutes each). Standard in-store shoppers spent the least amount of time between entering the store and checking out in Target (3.5 minutes) and the longest in Sears (16.5 minutes). For the 11 retailers evaluated, only Home Depot, Macy's and Nordstrom had faster average in-store shops versus BOPIS.
Other findings included:
- Availability confirmation: Items were available for pickup in just over an hour on average. The longest wait time for availability confirmation came from Macy's (2h, 26m) and Sears (2h, 20m). The shortest wait for availability confirmation came from Best Buy and Lowe's (10m). Other retailers communicating availability in under an hour on average included: Home Depot (25m); Staples (28m); Toys "R" Us (30m); and Office Depot (52m). Home Depot was the only retailer that offered the ability to schedule a pickup.
- BOPIS Checkout Process: A wide variety of methods were found across retailers for guiding BOPIS shoppers to the appropriate area to pick up their items. Those providing some guidance when entering the store were most helpful. The BOPIS pickup areas for Best Buy, Lowe's and Target are all immediately visible upon entering the store. Nordstrom lets shoppers pick up from any service desk, regardless of product type. For instance, a shopper can pick up shoes at the makeup counter.
- BOPIS Checkout Speed: For BOPIS shoppers, 58 percent of their time in-store was spent at the checkout desk (3.1 minutes on average). For in-store shoppers, checkout represented only 15 percent of their in-store time (1.1 minutes).
StellaService said BOPIS enables retailers to leverage local inventory for online sales, assures consumers an item will be in stock and allows them to pick it up faster. It also said better processes should speed BOPIS turnaround. Said Kevon Hills, StellaService VP of research, "If BOPIS proves popular with consumers, you can expect retailers to continue to invest in a more efficient process."