Your customer's path to purchase almost never runs in a straight line anymore. She might discover a product on Instagram, price-check it on your site over lunch, then decide she wants it in her hands today rather than in three-to-five business days. That last impulse is exactly where BOPIS lives, and it has quietly become one of the most-requested fulfillment options in retail.

BOPIS (buy online, pickup in store) blends the convenience of e-commerce with the immediacy of your physical footprint. Instead of choosing between "buy online" and "buy in store," your customer gets both at once. And the numbers say she wants it: U.S. click-and-collect retail sales hit an estimated $154.3 billion in 2025 and are projected to reach $177.9 billion in 2026, a 15.3% year-over-year jump, according to Capital One Shopping Research.

If you manage a fleet of stores and you are not offering BOPIS (or you are offering it badly), you are leaving both revenue and foot traffic on the table. Here is how it works, who is doing it well, and how to stand up a program of your own.

What Is BOPIS in Retail?

BOPIS is the quintessential example of modern omnichannel shopping: the customer uses your website or app to place an order, but for one reason or another it suits her better to collect the item herself at a nearby store. In other words, she purchases online, but the fulfillment of the order happens in person. And that fulfillment option may be the very reason she bought from you instead of a competitor.

The appeal is easy to understand. BOPIS eliminates shipping costs, removes the wait, and lets her retrieve her order on her own schedule. For the retailer, it turns your stores into fulfillment hubs and pulls customers through your doors, where good things tend to happen. In fact, 85% of U.S. BOPIS shoppers say they have made an additional purchase while collecting an order, per Capital One Shopping Research. That is the entire ballgame: you fulfill one order and frequently sell a second.

Adoption has followed suit. Roughly 68% of U.S. shoppers used BOPIS at least once in 2024, up from 57% in 2022. This is no longer a nice-to-have. It is table stakes for any brand with stores.

How BOPIS Works, Step by Step

Behind a smooth pickup experience sits a fairly simple sequence. Get each step right and the whole thing feels effortless to the shopper.

1. The customer shops online. She browses your website or app and, ideally, can filter or see real-time inventory for the store nearest her.
2. She selects "pickup in store" at checkout. She chooses her preferred location instead of a shipping address and pays online as usual.
3. Your system routes the order. The order lands with the right store, and your inventory updates so the item is reserved and taken off the sellable floor count.
4. The store team picks and preps. An associate pulls the item, stages it, and marks it ready.
5. The customer gets the "ready for pickup" message. A clear notification (email, SMS, or WhatsApp) tells her the order is waiting and how to collect it.
6. She picks it up. She shows ID or an order confirmation, grabs her order, and, more often than not, browses on her way out.

The magic is in the connective tissue: accurate inventory, fast pick times, and proactive communication. When any of those break, the experience curdles into a frustrated customer standing at a counter while someone hunts in the back.

BOPIS vs BOSS vs BORIS: What's the Difference?

BOPIS has a few cousins in the omnichannel fulfillment family, and the acronyms get thrown around interchangeably. They are not the same thing. Here is a quick reference.

Most mature programs run several of these at once. The more of these options you support, the more of the multi-channel shopper's preferences you can meet, and the harder it becomes for her to justify buying anywhere else.

Why BOPIS Matters for Omnichannel Retailers

BOPIS truly benefits everyone, which is rare in retail operations. For the customer, it creates optionality, kills shipping costs, and puts her in control of timing. For you, the upside stacks up fast:

• It drives foot traffic. Every pickup is a reason to walk into your store, and every visit is a fresh sales and marketing opportunity. With 85% of pickup shoppers adding an unplanned item, that traffic converts.
• It cuts fulfillment costs. Shipping a package to a customer's door is expensive. Having her collect it from a store you already operate is not. BOPIS turns your existing real estate into a distribution advantage.
• It supports your omnichannel strategy. BOPIS is one of the clearest signals that your online and offline channels actually talk to each other. Retailers leaning into omnichannel fulfillment are the ones capturing that $177.9 billion in 2026 click-and-collect spend.
• It builds loyalty. A fast, transparent pickup experience is a small delight that customers remember. Nail it consistently and you deepen customer loyalty for the long haul.

The BOPIS experience spans both the ordering and the retrieval moments. Your customers need a frictionless way to indicate their pickup preference online, and a genuinely pleasant experience collecting the item in person.

Examples of BOPIS in Retail Done Right

Whether you are refining an existing program or building one from scratch, these brands are worth studying.

Nordstrom

When Nordstrom launched Nordstrom Local, the concept seemed to run counter to the entire reason department stores exist. Beyond being tiny in square footage, Nordstrom Local locations do not carry sellable inventory at all. Instead they are built entirely around services, including online-order pickup, alterations, and styling. Tucked into residential neighborhoods rather than prime commercial corridors, they have proven a clever way to boost transactions and satisfaction without the cost of a full store.

Lululemon

Lululemon's buy online, pickup in store experience is available through both its website and app, letting customers grab items the same day they order from a nearby location instead of waiting on shipping. Once an order is placed for pickup, the customer is told exactly what hours she can collect it, and she confirms with ID or an order confirmation at the store. Simple, fast, and consistent.

The Reformation

The Reformation goes a step further on the discovery side. Shoppers can filter the brand's entire web inventory by what is available immediately for store pickup near them. This is a quietly brilliant feature because it caters to exactly the customers who are most ready to buy and have an urgent need, and it removes the guesswork about whether a trip to the store will be worth it.

Home Depot

Home Depot lets website visitors search for products by same-day availability at a local store. When you are a major retailer, the gap between online catalog and in-store stock can be enormous, so surfacing real-time local availability dramatically streamlines the decision. It is a big reason Home Depot remains a frequently cited leader in click-and-collect.

Target

Target has turned pickup into a genuine growth engine. Its same-day fulfillment ecosystem, spanning Drive Up, in-store pickup, and rapid delivery, generated more than $14 billion in sales and roughly two-thirds of Target's digital revenue in fiscal 2025, according to Retail Dive. The lesson: when pickup is fast and effortless, customers make it their default.

How to Launch a BOPIS Program

Ready to stand up your own BOPIS program? You do not need a Target-sized budget, but you do need the fundamentals in the right order.

1. Get your inventory visibility straight. BOPIS lives or dies on accurate, real-time stock counts per location. If your site promises an item the store cannot find, you have manufactured a bad experience. Sync your e-commerce platform and in-store POS so both show the same numbers.
2. Add a clear pickup option at checkout. Let customers choose a store and see availability before they commit. The less friction here, the higher your BOPIS attach rate.
3. Build a tight in-store pick-and-stage workflow. Decide who picks orders, where staged orders live, and what "ready" means. Speed matters: the faster you can turn an order around, the more you can promise same-day pickup with confidence.
4. Communicate proactively. Send an order confirmation, a genuine "ready for pickup" alert, and clear instructions on where to go and what to bring. This single step prevents the majority of pickup complaints.
5. Design the handoff. Whether it is a dedicated counter, a locker, or curbside, make the physical retrieval obvious and quick. Train associates to treat it as a service moment, not a chore.
6. Measure and refine. Track pickup times, attach rate (how often pickups turn into extra purchases), and customer satisfaction. Then tune the weak links.

The operational side is only half the job. The other half is what you do with the relationship once the customer is standing in your store.

Ready to turn pickups into repeat customers? Start your free 14-day trial of Endear (no credit card required) and see how a connected CRM makes every BOPIS visit a chance to sell more.

BOPIS Marketing: Turn Every Pickup Into a Relationship

Here is where most BOPIS programs quietly underperform. They treat the pickup as a transaction to be completed rather than a relationship to be built. A customer walks in, grabs a bag, and walks out as anonymous as she arrived. That is a wasted moment.

Good BOPIS marketing changes that. When your store team knows who is walking through the door, what she just bought, and what she has bought before, the pickup becomes a clienteling opportunity. An associate can greet her by name, mention that the jacket she has been eyeing is back in stock, or suggest the exact item that pairs with her order.

This is exactly what Endear's clienteling platform is built for. Our AI Opportunity Engine surfaces high-intent customers each day and drafts brand-aligned outreach that your associates review and approve before anything sends.

So when a BOPIS customer is coming in to collect an order, your team can send a quick, personal note ahead of the visit, or follow up afterward with a relevant recommendation. That is how a single pickup turns into a second purchase, and eventually a loyal, high-value customer.

Pair that with Endear's messaging and campaigns across email, SMS, and WhatsApp, and your customers always have a real person to reach about their order, not a support ticket. They stay updated on when to come by, they can ask logistics questions, and your team gets a natural reason to keep the conversation going long after the bag leaves the store.

Frequently Asked Questions About BOPIS

What does BOPIS mean in retail?

BOPIS stands for "buy online, pickup in store." It is a fulfillment option where a customer purchases an item on a retailer's website or app and then collects it in person at a physical store location instead of having it shipped.

How is BOPIS different from curbside pickup?

Both start with an online order. With traditional BOPIS, the customer walks into the store to collect the order. With curbside pickup, an associate brings the order out to the customer's car, so she never has to leave the vehicle. Many retailers offer both.

What is the difference between BOPIS, BOSS, and BORIS?

BOPIS is buy online, pickup in store. BOSS is buy online, ship to store (used when an item is not stocked at the local store and needs to be shipped there for pickup). BORIS is buy online, return in store. They are related omnichannel fulfillment options that often run together.

Is BOPIS worth it for retailers?

For most brands with physical stores, yes. BOPIS reduces shipping costs, drives foot traffic, and creates upsell opportunities. With 85% of pickup shoppers making an additional purchase, according to Capital One Shopping Research, the incremental sales alone often justify the program.

How much is the BOPIS market worth?

What do you need to offer BOPIS?

At minimum you need real-time inventory visibility per store, a pickup option at online checkout, an in-store workflow to pick and stage orders, and a reliable way to notify customers when their order is ready. A connected CRM helps you turn each pickup into a longer-term relationship.

How do I increase sales from BOPIS customers?

Treat the pickup as a clienteling moment rather than a handoff. When associates know the customer's history, they can make relevant recommendations in person. Tools like Endear's AI Opportunity Engine surface those opportunities and draft outreach that associates review before sending, so every pickup can become a second sale.

Turn BOPIS Into Your Best Retention Channel

BOPIS is not just a fulfillment checkbox. Done well, it is a repeatable way to pull customers into your stores, sell them a little more each visit, and build the kind of relationships that keep them coming back. The operational pieces get them through the door. What you do next is what turns a one-time pickup into a lifetime of purchases.

Book a demo with Endear to see how our clienteling platform, AI Opportunity Engine, and multichannel campaigns help your team make every BOPIS visit count, with a human in the loop every step of the way.