Retailers Should Optimize BOPIS Like the Last Mile: Here's Why

A lot of trends that gained steam during the pandemic have receded into the background in the last couple of years—but there are others that are still making their presence felt. Unfortunately, one of those trends that has stuck with us is QR code menus at restaurants. On the other hand, fulfillment channel trends like the rise of “buy online, pickup in store” (BOPIS) have also had staying power, presenting intriguing opportunities for modern retailers.

By giving customers greater flexibility in the way their orders are fulfilled, retailers who offer customer pickup options can boost customer loyalty and improve the overall quality of the experience you offer to customers. But not all pickup options are created equal—it’s all too easy to wind up in a position where you’re creating traffic jams at your pickup sites and customers are wishing they had simply waited for delivery. 

In this post, we’ll cover the ins and outs of BOPIS/customer pickup options, show you how efficient pickup logistics can reduce costs and improve customer experience, and give a step-by-step guide to implementing such a process within your own operations. 

What Is BOPIS?

Like we noted above, BOPIS stands for “buy online, pickup in store.” You might hear the same process referred to by other names: click-and-collect, in-store pickup, etc. 

In that sense, it’s a pretty straightforward concept. The fulfillment process is more or less the same up until the point where items would be loaded into trucks and delivered to the end customers—instead, they’re routed to the pickup location (whether that’s a storefront or a warehouse) and the customers come to get them themselves.

For customers that don’t want to wait for a last mile delivery, or who simply don’t want to deal with the delivery process, this can be a great option. As an added bonus, you don’t have to use up delivery capacity or fuel to get the order to the customer’s location. 

That being said, the fact that you’re cutting out the complexity of the last mile delivery process doesn’t mean that smooth sailing is guaranteed. It’s all too common to see pickup sites that are crowded with customers and overworked associates who can’t keep up with demand. When it happens, it’s typically because businesses are treating BOPIS as an afterthought. 

Instead, retailers and anyone else who leverage customer pickups as part of their fulfillment strategy should treat BOPIS more like last mile deliveries. 

Why You Should Treat Pickups Like Last Mile Deliveries

In order to gain the benefits that come from enabling customer pickups, you need to take the same approach to optimization that you use for last mile deliveries. 

Obviously, there’s no routes to optimize—but the processes are broadly similar when you zoom out beyond that fact. Customers need to know when their orders are going to be ready for pickup. Store and warehouse associates need to know when they should start picking orders and getting them ready for pickup—and they need to know when the customer has arrived and is ready for their order to be brought out. 

And after the transaction is completed and the customer has left the premises, it all looks the same in your analytics. You need proof of which orders were completed and at what time so you can send out receipts to customers and keep your internal records up to date.

If you approach BOPIS orders with that mindset, you can put yourself in a position to ensure a smooth, seamless experience for both your customers and your own store/warehouse teams. You can deliver on your promise of offering a quick and painless experience to customers, and you can do it without causing chaos for your team. 

Without that mindset, the picture is less rosy. Customers may get annoyed at long wait times at your store or warehouse—they might even find that there’s nowhere for them to park. (This is going to bug someone picking up an end table for a home redecorating project—but it’s really going to cause problems for a contractor picking up a pallet of lumber to keep their job site running smoothly.) At the same time, associates might simply not be able to keep up. The result is that it’s going to harm your brand and potentially increase your fulfillment costs due to the lack of efficiency. 

How to Optimize Customer Pickup Logistics 

When you treat customer pickups with the same optimization-centered mindset you use for last mile deliveries, you can increase efficiency, boost customer satisfaction, and potentially decrease your overall logistics costs. How do you make that a reality? 

Here are a few best practices:

• Establish strict capacity rules: You don’t want to run your associates ragged, which means you want to schedule pickup times based on pre-established capacity rules. Once you have a certain number of pickups scheduled for a given time slot, whatever system you’re using for reservations should stop offering that time slot for new orders. 
• Automate your customer communications: One of the ways that last mile deliveries can be optimized for costs is by cutting out phone calls in favor of automated, bulk text and email notifications throughout the process. This same tactic can be leveraged for pickups. Send customers a message when their orders are scheduled, a reminder when the scheduled time slot is getting close, and live updates when their orders have been picked and are ready for them to come pick up. 
• Enable two-way communications: It’s important for customers to be able to let you know if something changes—for instance if they can no longer make it to their pickup appointment. It’s especially important if it’s an order that needs to be brought out to the customer’s vehicle by your team. You don’t want the customer to have to park, wander into your warehouse, flag someone down, and provide order information. Instead, they should be able to send a text with the make and model of their car and have the associate bring it out to them.
• Empower your associates: That last point was crucial. When the customer arrives, the store associate needs to get a notification directly to their device that lets them know exactly what they need to do and when. You don’t want to put your team in a position where they have to open up an app on a desktop computer to see what needs to happen next. Instead, you can empower them with a mobile app that provides exactly the information they need—when they need it—to keep things moving and on track. 
• Offer real-time fulfillment visibility: While your associates certainly shouldn’t be on a desktop all day when they need to be picking and packing orders for customer pickup, someone will need to be monitoring what’s happening across your operation in order to manage exceptions and avoid disruptions. This person needs the ability to track every pickup from a single dashboard in real time. 
• Capture proof of pickup: Proof of pickup can be just as crucial as proof of delivery. You want a record that proves that the customer got what they ordered in the condition they expected, so that you can fend off any potential claims to the contrary in the future. 

This might sound like a lot to manage, but if you’re already leveraging last mile delivery technology, you should be able to utilize the same capabilities for the pickup logistics process. In this way, you can turn BOPIS/customer pickup into a new, cost-efficient way of delighting your customers.