Now your customers can order or reserve products online and they can also pick them from a store with an in-store pickup feature. Companies are opting for this facture to provide convenience to their valuable customers as they don’t have to wait at home for the delivery instead they can pick up their ordered products by visiting the physical store. Thus, it saves shoppers shipping costs plus this feature does not require address details.
What Statistics prove?
As per the eMarketer survey, 86% of customers said they will prefer buying a $50 product if they are able to save $10 by picking it up from the store. Further, 50% of customers wish that they visit the physical store to make the purchase and the address should be featured on the merchant’s site.
An added advantage for customers as well as for merchants is that they can save money on the delivery and spend that money on additional products and can pick them all up at once rather than purchase differently.
Examples of in-store pickup implementations
Before we read more about in-store pickup implementation let’s see few examples of how this solution works:
Here, let’s take Zumiez which is a great example of multi-step implementation of the personal pickup feature. It has got in-store pickup feature on almost every relevant page. Have a look at the below image which shows the personal pickup option in the header: be it anywhere on the site.
In-store pickup information page:
Product page:
on the checkout page, there is an option of Personal pickup
In-store payment option:
Sears is the second-best example of in-store pickup. The main advantage of this solution is its simple layout and easy-to-find pickup options.
In-store pickup on a product page:
Searching for the nearest store:
In-store pickup options
Now, let’s see what is in-store pickup options?
What are the main features offered by personal pickup solutions?
For the customers:
- You can place an online order and then pick it up from a store.
- Select one from different pickup locations.
- Choose one preferred pickup date.
- You can view and take the print of the pickup location as well as the order.
- You can look for stores by tags, area, and distance.
- You will receive a notification when products are ready for pickup.
- one order includes pickup items and shipment items
- Pay in store for the ordered products
For the store managers:
- Import stores and locations via CSV files
- Set open times in mass
- Specify the description of a pickup location
- Designate a pickup location for each product
- Define available pick up dates and times
- Track store messages and orders
- Notify managers of the selected store
- Define available search criteria
- One can limit the number of stores available during the checkout page
- Place a default store on the checkout page
- Determine minimum and maximum cart value restrictions for in-store pickup.
How will you add an in-store pickup feature in Magento?
For this task, you need a right choice of an extension. Adding an in-store pickup feature in Magento is not that difficult. But you need to keep few things in mind before making any changes:
- Which products can be pick up from the store: Do you want to give this option for some specific orders or for all products?
- Make a decision of who will pick up products and if you wish you can give the option to registered customers only or to everyone.
- You can provide a geolocation option and show the nearest stores which will be based on customer’s IP addresses so that it will be easy for them to locate the nearest store. Give them options to search by postcode, city, state, etc.
- Decide to whom you will assign the responsibility for processing the transaction and how will you inform your staff about the details of in-store pickup orders?
- Clear your mind regarding modes of payment. Will you give them the various payment methods like customers can pay in-store when they come for in-store pickup?
The only thing you have to do is to choose and install the right extension to implement basic in-store pickup functionality.
Extensions for Magento store:
There are few extensions available but it comes with limitations. Do not install an extension that disturbs the self-cycle of your online store. If you want the right extension then you need professional help. You can hire experienced Magento extension developers who can get you the perfect extension hence resulting in increased sales.
Some complex solutions:
This wonderful feature will help you in avoiding some problems but what if two different customers are interested in buying the same product at the same time like one is buying online and another one from the physical store. Well, the solution is to synchronize your online catalog with the brick-and-mortar store inventory. But yes such cases will need additional development.
Personal pickup is a great choice for any online retailer and you can even customize the feature as per your need like postal code or country and which mode of payment works best for in-store pickup. You can take the advantage of this amazing feature and increase your online sales and build long-time relationships with local buyers. You are providing a faster delivery option to your customers for free. It might be challenging for new retailers but overall this feature is very easy to install, customize and manage. Thus, we strongly suggest In-store pick-up feature to all our retailers be it small or big, who has the means to offer such delivery option.
