BOPIS, like e-commerce returns, cost retailers millions of dollars each year. Retailers need to manage BOPIS abandonment carefully, lest they destroy customer relationships. My first instinct is to charge consumers a fee for abandoning their orders, much as merchants reserve the right to charge a restocking fee on returned merchandise. My second thought is for retailers to be transparent with consumers about the cost of fulfilling their orders — make consumers partners in the process. Perhaps with better understanding of the costs involved, consumers will become more sensitive to abandoning orders.

They need to aggressively address BOPIS abandonment. It is a no-brainer in that it incurs a cost. But it MUST be seen as a BEST PRACTICE initiative and not a breakthrough modern wonder.

If you want to reduce BOPIS abandonment stop abandoning the customer who has chosen to pick-up the order in the store. Make it quicker, simpler and easier. Not exactly brain surgery.

Tom already nails two important aspects. First is notifying the consumer right away. In the click-and-collect world, a strong order management system (OMS) will provide this type of flexible communications. To Cathy’s point, email is a great way to notify customers, but you need to have the flexibility to notify them on the platform of their choice. That could be text reminders, email, Snapchat, Twitter DM or an Instagram product shot.

Second, because abandonment is going to happen and is unavoidable (cost of doing business), here too retailers need the right OMS technology that can process a return/failed pickup and put it back into store inventory, then show it to other online customers. What one customer does not want, another will be eager to purchase.

The empowerment of the customer comes at great cost to retailers. To me, BOPIS abandonment looks very much like product return which customers absolutely expect to involve no hassle at all.

The power resides with the customer. Progressive retailers should accept this fact rather than resist it. The problem, of course, is that no retailer can make a profit in such a hostile environment.

It is therefore high time for DEEP change that must come with a new business model and a novel type of coalition between manufacturers and physical retailers.

With online purchasing came higher returns! For many reasons such as buying multiple sizes to get the right one, getting caught up in the moment and then realizing it was a mistake, whatever. The truth is, the easier we make shopping for consumers, the more fickle they become. I honestly don’t have a great idea for this issue but charging them a fee is not it. That will turn away our very demanding consumers big-time. Retailers who price match may be able to reduce some of those losses otherwise. I too am all about transparency. One thought that came to my mind is what UPS does. You can watch your package move along the path and it seems to create an eagerness. Then you get to give them special instructions about where and when to drop it. Now, I know we are talking about BOPIS, so just put that concept into context. Create an eagerness, let the consumer in on the process, price match, incent them and maybe we can reduce the losses. Just a… Read more »

BOPIS is NOT for wimps and wusses! It requires excellent execution everyday. While BOPIS represents the opportunity to drive store traffic and additional sales, it also carries grave risks if not executed flawlessly. Bottom line, consumers expect their purchase to be there, and they expect to collect it far more quickly than having to go through the cashier lane. A very high percentage of customers who have one BOPIS failure (more than 37 percent) become very high risks as future BOPIS abandoners. To accomplish BOPIS and reduce abandonment, retailers need to be able to have new systems, skills and competencies: real time shelf inventory, dedicated BOPIS space front and center, well-trained BOPIS staff who are more than just clerks, immediate confirmation of BOPIS orders/purchases, text and other reminders, and the list goes on. And underlying all of this, everyone in the retail organization has to be aligned on BOPIS as total strategy without any internal competition over who gets credit for the sale or dividing commissions. Retailers can ill afford to put BOPIS in stores… Read more »

Sadly the “Amazon Model” has the most efficient and highest profit of merchandising options. Retailers are going to find out that the pickup options will actually cost them more money, time and personnel than the direct-ship model. I can’t see the pickup model even lasting beyond another year once the costs start affecting the bottom line.

There must be a way to automate the hold to ensure inventory flow isn’t jammed and customers are delighted. An app that puts a clock on the request, captures an email/cellphone number, confirms the hold and appoints the time of pick up with followup reminders. My library has this. So it exists.

I agree with all that say the shopper is in charge. The opportunity to solve her problem her must be optimized. Communication would help.

Or as we say, “retail ain’t for sissies!”

Interesting topic (and, I might add, the kind of “real world complication” that is never anticipated when pundits are predicting the future). Two thoughts:

1. More data is needed: cancelling an order or “deciding to have it shipped instead” are two very different things — and very different, too, from actual “abandonment” – despite them all being lumped together. (The latter have not been paid for?)
2. Much as with whether or not to offer “free shipping,” the marketplace will ultimately determine what merchants can do. If consumers stop shopping at retailers that charge “redemption fees,” then none will be charged … regardless of what the retailers’ accounting departments tell them they should do.

Given what we learned by leveraging human learning + machine reasoning, we see in-store pickups less favorably to drive sales. This is because in-store pickup works against the shopper’s psyche on why they do what we do. Regardless, here are few tips to reduce BOPIS rate: 1. PREDICT: Use information theory modeling to predict which item(s) consumers abandon. Do this as a multi-layer segmentation approach — segment consumers and SKUs. This exercise would also require data from the supply chain, consumer proximity, consumer segment, etc. 2. PRESCRIBE: Run revenue optimization models to find thresholds of profitability and loss. Find the cost of lost sale and then offer an additional incentive to pick the item. 3. TACTICAL: Through our human learning modeling, we have learned that when you show a customer how much effort went behind the offering, they are far more likely to appreciate it. Using this approach, alert them at every stage of the supply chain — when the item is getting prepared, packaged, leaves the warehouse, in transit, reaches to store, and waiting… Read more »

The cost of this can easily erase any potential profit gains when you consider the labor involved, let alone the often damaged goods when orders are abandoned. Retailers need to look at the root causes and mitigate the risks for these added costs quickly. Some suggestions, like stronger, more intense follow up with the customer, or added incentives to pick up the order may help in some cases.

Another great article on the issue of BOPIS, and for me as someone owns a supermarket, this problem is deeper than what I am reading. First off, it costs real money to create this, which includes refrigerated storage, a scanning system to track the right orders, dry good bins for the center aisle stuff, and having all this perfectly married together when the customer arrives, and wants their product right now! That alone costs money, and unless prices are high enough to cover it, profits will suffer.

I take orders online for meats, deli, and bakery, and pick up percentage is about 99%, so I will stick with that, and we call or text them when the order is ready.

If you are going to commit to BOPIS, you better be prepared to do it right every single time, and by all means, make a profit on it.