BOPUS a ‘real bright spot this year’

The latest Holiday Shipping study from Kurt Salmon, part of Accenture Strategy found that this year retailers excelled in their ability to execute buy online, pick-up in-store (BOPUS) on Black Friday, as well as upping their game when it comes to keeping their shipping promises on Cyber Monday.

Orders were placed with 137 retailers across a variety of categories on Cyber Monday to measure shipping speed, order accuracy and delivery costs.

Key findings:
● The top performing retailers fulfilled orders in an average of 1.8 days, and they include:  AutoZone, CVS, Office Depot, Advanced Auto Parts, Amazon (Prime), Best Buy, Burberry, Cabelas, Chanel, Staples, Timberland and Vans.
    ● The average time for the top 10 retailers improved 18% (from 2.0 to 1.7 days)
    ● 64% of retailers delivered an entire order within one week (compared to 63% in 2018 and 50% in 2017)

Retailers have also honed their ability to execute Black Friday BOPUS. 34 orders were placed across 15 retailers:
● Best BOPUS performers for overall customer experience include: Home Depot, Nordstrom, Kohl’s, & Dick’s Sporting Goods
● 88% of orders were processed on time compared to 72% in 2018
● The average processing time (from click to order ready) was 2.5 hours compared to 3.6 hours last year, a 30% improvement
● Only 27% of retailers have had an issue with their order (cancellation, wrong item, etc.) vs. 60% in 2018
● 85% of orders were fulfilled with no issues (compared to 65% in 2018)
● Average wait time in-store was around 4 minutes (compared to 7 in 2018)

In addition, Accenture’s study of more than 1,500 U.S. consumers found that:

Consumers are even more demanding:
Consumers expect free shipping and a 20% reduction in expected delivery time during the holiday season. In 2018, consumers were willing to wait 3.9 days on average – today the expectation is an average of 3.1 days.

Stores will continue to be a big part of retailers’ offerings:
71% of shoppers would rather go to the store versus paying for expedited shipping for immediate need purchasing.

The best gift ideas happen in store:
54% of shoppers say that they get the best gift ideas from browsing in store (20% retailers’ website, 18% traditional advertising, 13% social media influencers).

“BOPUS is the real bright spot this year,” said Steve Osburn, managing director at Kurt Salmon, part of Accenture Strategy. “Historically BOPUS was a difficult transaction for the customer, whereas now retailers have built ease and convenience into the experience by placing kiosks at the front of the store and allocating parking spaces. We are seeing many retailers honing their competitive agility and excelling in terms of speed, visibility into inventory and the ability to fulfill last-minute orders. One of the critical components is to ensure they have a function on their mobile app or online that gives the opportunity for a customer to see all the inventory in an easy way in the store that is near them.”

“As we look ahead to the next two weeks, those retailers that have invested in the BOPUS capability could be set to gain - driving additional sales,” Osburn added.