Buy online, pick up in store — an omnichannel option where customers order online and collect at a physical store instead of having it shipped.

Why do retailers offer BOPIS?

It drives store visits and add-on sales, uses store inventory and staff for cheaper fulfillment, and turns the physical footprint into an asset against online-only rivals.

What does BOPIS require to work?

Accurate, real-time inventory visibility and a fast, frictionless pickup process — inaccurate stock or slow pickup destroys the convenience that is its whole point.

Growth Marketing Glossary

Buy Online, Pick Up In Store (BOPIS)

BOPIS/baɪ ˈɔnˌlaɪn, pɪk əp ɪn stɔɹ/noun

Order on the screen, grab it at the store — the omnichannel bridge that turns stores into fulfillment and footfall.

Schematic — buy online, pick up in store

Term: BOPIS
Is: Buy online, collect in store
Bridges: E-commerce and physical retail
Wins: Speed, saved shipping, store visits

Forms & parts of speech

BOPIS · noun

Online buy, in-store pickup.

"BOPIS turns each store into a fulfillment point - and every pickup is a chance for an add-on sale."

Definition in plain terms

BOPIS — buy online, pick up in store — is an OMNICHANNEL fulfillment option where customers place and pay for an order online, then collect it at a physical store rather than having it shipped. It bridges the digital and physical channels: the convenience and selection of online shopping combined with the speed and zero shipping cost of picking up locally, often the same day. It is part of the broader 'click and collect' family alongside curbside pickup.

The mechanics

BOPIS works by treating BRICK-AND-MORTAR stores as fulfillment points, drawing on the store's (or nearby) inventory so customers can get goods faster and cheaper than shipping allows. The customer benefits are immediacy (often same-day), no shipping fees, and avoiding delivery uncertainty; the retailer benefits are several and compounding. It drives store visits — and an in-store pickup is a prime opportunity for additional, often impulse, purchases, lifting basket size. It uses existing store inventory and staff for fulfillment, often cheaper than warehouse shipping, and it turns the physical footprint into a competitive asset against pure-online rivals. Making BOPIS work requires accurate, real-time inventory visibility (promising in-store pickup of something that is out of stock destroys trust) and a fast, frictionless pickup process; a slow or chaotic pickup undoes the convenience that is the entire point.

When it matters

BOPIS matters most for omnichannel retailers with a store network, where it converts shoppers who want immediacy or want to avoid shipping, and where each pickup is a chance for incremental in-store sales. It is a key reason a physical footprint is an asset rather than a liability in the e-commerce era. The discipline is to get the operational foundations right — real-time inventory accuracy and a quick, smooth pickup — and to use the store visit it generates, because BOPIS done badly (inaccurate stock, long waits) frustrates customers, while BOPIS done well turns stores into a fulfillment and footfall engine.

Worked example. An omnichannel retailer adds BOPIS and at first stumbles on operations: inventory shown online is not truly accurate, so some customers arrive to find their pickup out of stock, and a clunky pickup desk creates long waits — frustrations that erode the very convenience BOPIS promises. After fixing real-time inventory visibility and streamlining the pickup process, the option works as intended: shoppers choose it for same-day, no-shipping convenience, store visits rise, and many pickups turn into add-on purchases that lift basket size. The store network becomes a fulfillment and footfall engine and a real edge over pure-online rivals — once the operational foundations were solid.

Failure modes to watch. Promising in-store pickup without accurate, real-time inventory so orders can't be fulfilled; a slow or chaotic pickup process that kills the convenience; failing to use the store visit for incremental sales; and treating BOPIS as a feature without the operations to back it.

Synonyms & antonyms

Synonyms

BOPISbuy online pick up in storeclick and collect

Antonyms

ship-to-home onlypure online fulfillment

Origin & history

BOPIS is the e-commerce-era formalization of 'click and collect,' which retailers (notably UK grocers and big-box chains) built out through the 2010s and which surged around 2020 when curbside and in-store pickup became essential. The initialism BOPIS became standard US retail shorthand for the buy-online, collect-in-store fulfillment model.

Etymology: source.

Usage trends

Search interest for this term over the last five years:

View interest-over-time on Google Trends →

Common questions

What is BOPIS?: Buy online, pick up in store — an omnichannel option where customers order online and collect at a physical store instead of having it shipped.
Why do retailers offer BOPIS?: It drives store visits and add-on sales, uses store inventory and staff for cheaper fulfillment, and turns the physical footprint into an asset against online-only rivals.
What does BOPIS require to work?: Accurate, real-time inventory visibility and a fast, frictionless pickup process — inaccurate stock or slow pickup destroys the convenience that is its whole point.

Related tools & calculators

toolAOV calculator
toolROAS calculator

Resources & people to follow

referenceWikipedia — Click and collect
referenceOmnichannel retail and fulfillment research
referenceRGM analysis — nail inventory accuracy and pickup speed, then use the visit

Curated, non-competitor resources verified per term.

Related training

moduleGrowth marketing

Disciplines

Areas of marketing where buy online, pick up in store (bopis) is a core concern:

Growth strategyPerformance marketing

Sources

trendsGoogle Trends — "bopis"