Saving a shopper the time from roaming aisles to find merchandise is great, but the shopping experience doesn’t end until the customer is happily in possession of that merchandise. Stores need to think of BOPIS as a 360 degree customer experience. Notably, customers who don’t even want to enter a store shouldn’t need to. Stores must enable a customer to push a button on their phone and notify the store that they are outside (or will be in five minutes) so that a store runner is ready and waiting to hand over the merchandise to the customer. Particularly progressive stores are even starting to custom fit their parking lots with both designated BOPIS parking spots and/or drive-thru windows for BOPIS customers. Smart move.

The key to BOPIS is store inventory accuracy. Without it, the customer is sure to be disappointed. Staff being able to quickly find the right products to set them aside within the SLA is the second step. The actual in-store process varies greatly, but posted signage and/or detailed instructions on the website go a long way to ensuring a smooth experience.

BOPIS is still in its infancy for many retailers, and it will get better over time. The logistics and processes required to deliver an effective BOPIS customer experience are considerable and can vary in complexity based on numerous factors including the types of product the retailer sells — shoes are easier than garden tractors.

Check-out and return processes are well understood, but even these are still challenging for some retailers to consistently execute. One key issue that retailers need to consider as they embark on/refine their BOPIS program is store staff. The impact of BOPIS on store staff can be considerable — this isn’t just another task that can be lumped onto existing store staff.

My personal experiences with BOPIS have been mixed, however the bottom line in all cases has been that I could have run into the store and gotten the item just as easily (minus the payment part of it). The pickup location was hard to find, there was only one person staffing the location, there were people waiting, it took forever to find the order and the list goes on. It seems to me that many retailers are simply trying to use existing staff, without proper training and well defined procedures, and that is what creates the chaos.

Love the concept and want to see it work so my 2 cents says let’s give it some time to work out the kinks.

Didn’t we read here a few months ago that 40 percent of BOPIS orders are never picked up? All this to save shipping costs — which are mostly free?

They don’t want to be waiting for deliveries? Do you think they’re being inconvenienced waiting for Amazon?

I don’t see how this is a money-making initiative for many retailers and the idea to arm associates with cross-sell opportunities, when they really are order pickers, flies in the face of reality.

To the original question: Why do so few shoppers think of BOPIS as a “smooth” process?

Because they still have to drive to the store, park and go inside, deal with people and then carry their stuff to the car and drive home. What part of that process answers any of shoppers’ major complaints about the shopping experience?

BOPIS was doomed from the start. The only thing that has a chance is curbside pickup ala Kroger.

I agree with Lee Kent. When the BOPIS process takes longer than traditional shopping, the customer experience suffers. I use it only when I know the item is available only online. At the last Store Operations Council meeting, participants talked at length about the challenges they face to get the experience right. All agreed that better signage is a start.

This is one of those areas where human execution of business process is a critical success factor. All the technology in the world won’t help the customer if the staff is not properly trained. Easier said than done, by the way.

I tend to agree with many of the previous comments. Obviously, this is one of the reasons that brick-and-mortar retailers are slow to adopt omnichannel. However, the options to return merchandise immediately, deal with an error immediately and/or go into the store on the same trip are significant advantages vis-à-vis pure online retailers. Therefore, efforts to get the logistics right can provide real supplemental tangible benefits to BOPIS.

Why have BOPIS? Simple. The customer doesn’t want to spend time walking through aisles and searching for merchandise. Having it ready and waiting is all about convenience. Sounds pretty simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Retailers must manage inventories so ensure customers don’t defect to another retailer because the store is out of an item. At that point, the store loses a competitive edge.

Retailers must make it super easy and fast for a customer to come in and pick up their items. Don’t make them wait. Some stores will even have curb-side delivery. Easier is better.

Finally, a good retailer may have someone assigned to mange the experience for the customer. That means going over the order, making sure it’s all there and thanking the customer. And, the best stores will cross sell based on the items, making sure the customer leaves with everything they want. (Example: If the customer buys a can of paint, do they need paint brushes to go with it?)

I think David is right on — knowing the store inventory is key. The message from the online site accepting the order to the consumer is the item will be available when the consumer gets to the store. While store operations can be adjusted to provide better service, nothing can be done to fix the disappointment of the item not being available in the store once the consumer has traveled there.

The best way to solve this problem is to involve the suppliers to support consigned inventories in the stores. The Internet of Things (IoT) and RFID technologies can provide the supplier with the real-time visibility to insure the right products are in the store to meet the demand and satisfy the BOPIS orders. By moving the inventory risk from the retailer to the supplier, who has every incentive to satisfy the consumer demand, the consumer would be assured when the pick up in store button is pushed, their item will be available when they get to the store.

Just maybe it IS disastrous, often enough, to be turning people off. I don’t have an answer, but I certainly see the problem clearly: Bricks retailers are “merchant warehousemen,” skilled in managing inventory through stores by delivering pallets there. Their stock clerks move that merchandise to displays in mass amounts. And their unpaid “stock-pickers”, aka shoppers, pick individual items for transport to checkout — and home.

It’s mass (pallet) movement, vs. item, individual purchase movement. And BOPIS expects the retailer to do the stock-picking FOR the shopper. (Who’s paying for THAT?)

Wonder why the world’s premier logistics organization — Walmart — struggles to make this work? You think paying stock-pickers is just free, and easy-peasy for an industry built on unpaid stock-pickers? This marginal disaster is destined to continue for a long time, until some realistic solutions are found. Hint: It will probably NOT involve 50,000 sq. ft. stores. (Here comes Amazon Go!)

We did a study on BOPIS three years ago and what customers really wanted was to pull up in front of the store and have someone put their online purchase in their trunk, by FAR, vs any other method. In other words, not go into the store. We did a similar study this year to see how things have changed, and guess what? They haven’t. People still want BOPIS drive up more than any other method.

So, if you’re looking for a reason why it’s not going smoothly, start there: it’s not being done right (except in the tests Walmart is doing).