Shoppers turn to BOPIS to reduce holiday stress

Dive Brief:

Shoppers are increasingly interested in using technology to help them avoid long lines, especially during the holidays. Sixty-seven percent of consumers responding to a survey said they wanted to use buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) options to streamline their shopping process, according to a GPShopper press release.
The report "Holiday Shopping Experience: Immediacy as Currency," also showed that 53% of those surveyed found waiting in line to be the most stressful part of holiday shopping. The online survey of 1,357 shoppers was commission by GPShopper, and conducted by YouGov in October.
The survey also found that some shoppers want to use mobile tools to ease and enhance their in-store experiences, as 36% said they wanted to use a retailer's mobile app, 35% said they wanted to use scan-and-go for faster checkout, 27% hoped to use visual search to find items and 26% aimed to use a mobile wish list.

Dive Insight:

Shoppers really don't like waiting in line. The GPShopper report revealed consumers are more stressed out about that prospect than they are about potentially not being able to find the products they are looking for (47%), or having products they ordered be delivered late (25%.)

This holiday season is shaping up to be the biggest one yet for BOPIS. According to the National Retail Federation, the long Thanksgiving weekend showed great progress on the omnichannel front, and click-and-collect is proving to be a big part of cross-channel strategy.

Walmart, Home Depot, Target and several other retailers have spent much of 2018 advancing their BOPIS approaches. As a result of wider retailer adoption, consumer awareness of in-store pickup has risen steadily. There is also growing evidence that shoppers who use BOPIS services may spend additional dollars in-store when they pick up the items they ordered online.

This holiday season is shaping up as an especially strong one for mobile. At the time when consumers were participating in this survey, more than a third of them said they wanted to use a retailer's mobile app this season, and it seems like they followed through on that intention, as first-time downloads of mobile shopping apps surged on Black Friday, according to Sensor Tower.

The GPShopper study further indicated that shoppers are starting to embrace the mobile tools and features that retailers have been adding. Retailers are changing their approaches while shoppers are changing their habits and embracing new services.