BOPIS, Click & Connect ...
Whatever you call it, the Brick-and-Mortar Store Model has changed
The Buy-Online-Pick-Up-In-Store (BOPIS) / Click-and-Collect eCommerce model boomed during the 2019 Holiday shopping season. Stores offering BOPIS saw 56% more active shoppers in the five days leading to Christmas, compared to those, not providing the perk.
The benefits didn’t stop there, stores offering BOPIS captured 18% more revenue after the retail ground shipping cutoff.
The Pandemic of 2020 triggered another wave of BOPIS, this time, one of necessity. And in just a few months, Click-and-Collect became the de facto business model for Retailers and Restaurants.
Quick considerations for optimizing the BOPIS experience:
- Show your current inventory levels
- Offer multiple pickup options during the checkout process
- Curbside, car, drive-through, store pickup, delivery, & other options appropriate to your business
- Use geofencing to improve pickup times
ETG Digital is a Salesforce Commerce Cloud Implementation partner and MuleSoft development company. We’ve dedicated a lot of time considering the repercussions and ramifications of the changes being wrought in the eCommerce market. This Blog addresses some of our own insights as well as those of Salesforce.
Remember your eCommerce basics:
The revolution in eCommerce caused by the Pandemic is keeping everyone busy adapting to a “new normal,” but it’s vital to remember that you need to stay on top of the basics.
Does your core website need attention? Have you reviewed the basics after adjusting to the new BOPIS procedures?
Remember the Old-school Basics of eCommerce will are always useful:
- Streamline the checkout experience
- Improve Personalization
- Enhance product information to reduce returns
- HONEST Testimonials and Customer Rating will help
If the size of an item may affect its desirability or viability, include multiple images that show its size compared to recognizable objects.
Reopening your Business? Things have changed a LOT
Businesses are just grasping the BOPIS model, and all around the Country, the lockdown restrictions are relaxing, and States are “opening up.” So how do they reopen while maintaining both employee and customer confidence? What are the predictable ways that businesses will be different?
Initial Insights on the New Business Frontier:
- The Big Flip: Digital used to extend the physical store. Now you can expect the Brick and Mortar store to be a single component of the digital storefront.
- Creating a consistent experience across every touchpoint is crucial to re-defining your brand.
- Unique video interactions may personalize your connection with Shoppers.
- You’ll need to continually demonstrate that the health of your shoppers and employees is essential.
- Your store may become less of a shopping and browsing event and more of a fulfillment center.
- Some stores may never open back up to foot traffic.
- Many stores may double-down on virtual or create personal shopping appointments to reduce foot traffic.
- Store employees will need to add remote customer assistance to their skill sets.
Contactless Engagement
Contactless Payments:
According to an American Express study, 58% of consumers report they are more likely to use contactless payments now than ever before. Contactless payment in the store will be crucial to maintain social distancing measures and manage customer expectations.
Updating your POS systems to accept payments via phones, wearable technology, and tap-and-go card payments will be essential.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud provides a new range of SFRA headless technology to help your business take advantage of the latest IoT and mobile eCommerce features. ETG has new SFRA-enhanced mobile application templates that will save you literally hundreds of hours of development.
Last-mile delivery and Innovations in Distribution:
There will be a lot of borrowing and refining of great ideas from other businesses. Last-mile delivery services have skyrocketed in popularity and are the future. Think Door-dash, GrubHub, Uber Eats, etc.
Love food trucks? How about Shopping trucks? Lots of innovations are on the horizon.
The Pandemic already has made it acceptable for consumers to place Rx orders online at Walgreens, then have them delivered via GrubHub. Mashups of pickup and delivery solutions will flourish.
Shoppers have incredibly clarified one message: They favor businesses that prioritize ways to safely and quickly get them the products they want and need.
Contactless Returns:
The health and safety of your employees and customers are paramount. So, accepting a possibly contaminated package can be a real threat. Luckily, contactless returns were already gaining popularity long before the Pandemic.
Think Amazon, and the “return-to—Kohl’s” solution they pioneered in 2017.
Another example is Nordstrom, and their kiosk returns implemented in 2019. Shoppers scan a QR code and return their items via a kiosk.
Read More about this.
Ease, speed, and efficiency save everyone hassle while ensuring contactless returns improves health and safety for everyone involved.
Shopper Education: Guiding Everyone Through the Digital Frontier
The great news is that older shoppers are accepting and adopting web and mobile technologies at an incredible rate. But you can leave none of your shoppers behind. Empathy and compassion for those struggling with technology are critical to ensuring a smooth transition.
Education and effective communication are key.
A great success story is Walmart. They are leading the way with a comprehensive set of tools and videos that walk shoppers through these new technologies.
Check out Walmart’s videos here:
It is essential to simplify your Apps and to train your store associates to guide shoppers who struggle with technology. You’ll need to help people both online and over the phone.
Rethinking the store associate role
The role of the store associate will likely be more critical than ever. Their skill sets will need to be higher and their importance to the success of your business even more intense. It would be best if you focused on retraining your staff to become fulfillment and service heroes.
They will be the support agents for older and digitally inexperienced customers, AND they may play a significant role in live video engagements with online and mobile shoppers.
The National Retail Federation has provided a great checklist to help with reopening:
Summary
Retail is experiencing a sea change, and this provides a unique opportunity to revolutionize and improve your operations. Look around, play with innovations, and know the ETG Digital is here with ideas and custom-solutions to propel your business to the next level.
About ETG Digital
ETG is a Crest Level Salesforce Partner headquartered in Plano, Texas. We are ISO 9001:2015 certified company with a global delivery center in Hyderabad, India. We have dedicated teams of professionals spanning continents located in US, Canada, UAE, UK, Australia and India. Our ability to maintain talent hubs in multiple locations and working on projects for clients from various domains gives us a very unique advantage. An advantage to leverage proven technologies like Salesforce Commerce, Sales, Service, Partner and Marketing Clouds and using them to deliver tailor made solutions for clients to suit their business requirements.
If you are looking to take your business into the next league, you are at the right place. Connect with us at info@etg.digital or call us at +1 469 666 1119
