I introduced the acronym BOPIS (buy online pickup in store) and now is a good time to look at the latest move in BOPIS. Today Sears announced MyGofer. In essence they are going to close down a K-mart in Joliet, Illinois and remodel it with 80% warehouse storage and 20% showroom. People will be able to drive up in their car and drive through to pick up the merchandise they ordered online. As the article says it sounds a lot like Service Merchandise to me.
Combining the ease of online shopping with the immediacy of product acquisition at a local store is giving me my cake and allowing me to eat it too. I can do all of my product research in the comfort of my home. I don't have to track down sales associates to ask a question or stand in line to check out. The product is ready to pick up when I'm ready to go and get it.
I've had good BOPIS experiences and mediocre BOPIS experiences.
When I ordered a digital camera online from Best Buy the pick up experience went well. There were BOPIS parking spaces near the front of the store so I didn't have waste time parking. Then, when I got in the store, there was a BOPIS check-out line with no one in it with a Best Buy blue shirt ready to go grab my order.
My BOPIS experience getting two bookcases at Office Depot was a little less smooth. First, there was no specific place in the store to ask about my online order. I grabbed the first sales associate I could find and they had to go find someone else. They checked my order and told me to wait while they went into the warehouse. I wanted to walk around which might have been a good thing for some Office Depot impulse purchases, but I didn't know where I would meet this person after they pulled my order. So I stood there and waited.
It took 10 minutes.
I'm very interested to see how this turns out for Sears. I think it's a good move and a possible differentiator for Sears that won't easily be matched by other bricks and mortar retailers. At least I can sit in my car for 10 minutes if I have to and listen to XM. But I wonder how they'll fit a bookcase through that little drive-thru window.
