Providing the best of online and in-person shopping, its new program, Amazon Local Selling, gives local businesses the ability to harness the power and scope of the Amazon marketplace.
Whether you sell vendor central or seller central, you’ll have another option in BuyBox where an Amazon consumer can purchase a product on the app and go to the retail store for pickup.
Buy Online, Pickup In Store
With this program, Amazon provides its third-party retailers to use the marketplace strictly as a sales and payment platform, with order fulfillment still handled by the retailers themselves.
Buy online pickup in store (BOPIS) allows customers to place an order from a retailer’s website and pick it up at their closest store location. This option saves customers time and money on shipping, and quicker gratification with fast fulfillment on items they need sooner.
With this program, it offers retailers a way to reach new audiences while also expanding their engagement within their local community.
Benefits of BOPIS
BOPIS offers an opportunity for increased sales and higher profit margins. Some of the benefits
- Increase in profitability: When considering the cost of fulfillment and shipping, this is an easy takeaway – the retailer in this case is saving on the packing materials and labor or covering the cost of shipping fees.
- Heightened foot traffic: BOPIS brings customers into the store who may typically shop online, and once they’re in the store, 49% of US shoppers made additional purchases while picking up their BOPIS item.
- Improvement in customer satisfaction: With increases in shipping times, BOPIS poses a quicker option for receiving items, if customers need their product sooner than the available shipping option.
- Lower rates of returns: Items picked up in-store results in fewer returns (although also easier and more cost-effective returns than the contrary shipping return process). When a customer can see the item in-person, it ensures the quality of that item is up to their satisfaction and therefore will result in fewer returns.
The BOPIS strategy is a great option for retailers who have both a storefront as well as an ecommerce store.
Contrary to some belief, brick and mortar stores are not dead - they’re simply evolving. Offering the BOPIS model into retailer business plans can provide a new customer experience, delivering convenience while saving money for both the retailer and its customers.
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