FashionindustriesRetail Trends

Beyond BOPIS: Take the Lead in Omnichannel Retailing with ROPIS

3 min read

Two key capabilities that separate the leaders from the laggards in omnichannel retail are Buy Online Pickup In Store (BOPIS) and Buy Online Return In Store (BORIS).

But we don’t hear so many retailers talking about Reserve Online Pickup in Store (ROPIS), which it is destined to become equally popular, particularly in fashion retailing.

More consumers are opting to buy goods online and then pick them up later from the retailer’s store. Why? Well, cost is a big consideration: by picking up in a store,  you avoid paying delivery charges.   Then there’s the speed advantage. More and more retailers have upgraded their Click and Collect capabilities to enable them to be able to promise that goods ordered online can be available for pickup in a store in just hours – sometimes as little as one hour.

Bridging the Divide

BOPIS  offers a way for retailers to bridge the digital-physical divide, making it a critical element of the omnichannel retail experience.  And once a retailer equips its stores to offer BOPIS, it can adapt the same infrastucture and procedures to offer BORIS – Buy Online Return In Store.  BORIS gives brick-and-mortar retailers a big advantage over online-only rivals because customers value the option to easily return items they don’t like.

Retailers that offer BOPIS and BORIS enjoy the benefits of happy customers and the opportunity to promote related products and impulse purchases when customers pick up or return orders at the store.

BOPIS, BORIS and now.. ROPIS

we are starting to see some retailers adopt a less common omnichannel capability, but one that has proven highly effective, namely the ability to Reserve Online,   pay for and Pick Up the ordered goods In Store, ROPIS.

is important to understand that ROPIS is different from BOPIS because the customer does not have to complete the purchase online. Instead the product is reserved for the customer and is held in the store ready for them to view it or try it on.

In the picture you can see how Openbravo Commerce Cloud does ROPIS. The POS terminal in a store gets a message telling the assistant to set aside a particular product to fulfil an order from a named online customer.

Openbravo believes that ROPIS is a critical capability for fashion retailers that want to exploit the synergies between the offline and online worlds. Shoppers like the convenience of being able to research browse fashion items online. But they also often need to try on a dress or pair of shoes to make sure they fit before taking them home.

Sizing challenges

One of the big challenges for online fashion retailers is that apparel and footwear sizes vary enormously from brand to brand. So, even if a customer loves the dress when the courrier delivers it to their home, they still may be disappointed if it doesn’t fit. That disappointment can turn into frustration if they have to then deal with the headache of the online returns process.

And for high-end luxury items, shoppers want to touch, feel and get a sense of the authenticity of the expensive garment before they complete the purchase.

According to FitforCommerce, in 2016, only nine percent of retailers and brands in the Omnichannel Retail Index offered this service.

This number nearly doubled in 2017. At 14 percent, adoption is not yet mainstream so that provides a great opportunity for early adopters to seize on the trend and differentiate from the competition.

To find out more about BORIS and other capabilities of Openbravo Commerce Suite designed for fashion retailers watch our on-demand webinar, “Omnichannel leader or laggard? What’s your choice as a fashion retailer?” or take a Product Tour today.

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