Click-and-collect
Click-and-collect lets consumers buy and pay online and pick up the order in store, with no shipping costs and no waiting for delivery. In the US, it's often called BOPIS (buy online, pick up in store).
Definition
Click-and-collect, also known as BOPIS (buy online, pick up in store), lets consumers complete the purchase, including payment, through a retailer’s online shop or marketplace and then collect the goods in person at a physical location. This is the key difference from click-and-reserve, where payment only happens at pickup, not at the time of ordering. If the item isn’t available at the chosen store, it can be sent there from a warehouse first, a model known as ship-to-store.
Three click-and-collect models
Why retailers offer click-and-collect
- No shipping cost for the retailer or the consumer, which matters most for price-sensitive purchases
- No delivery wait: the order is ready as soon as it's picked, not as soon as a carrier delivers it
- Flexible timing: consumers collect on their own schedule rather than waiting for a delivery window
- Additional in-store revenue: consumers picking up an order are already in the store and can browse or add items
- Lower risk of failed delivery: no missed doorstep deliveries or return-to-sender parcels
What click-and-collect requires
Click-and-collect only works reliably if store-level inventory is accurate in real time: promising an in-store pickup for an item that isn’t actually on the shelf creates a worse experience than not offering the option at all. That requires a real-time view of stock per location, as provided by the Global Inventory Hub, and a checkout that only offers pickup where stock is confirmed, which is what Availability and Promising does. In the store itself, staff need a clear process to pick, prepare and hand over each order, supported by the Store Operations app.
For many retailers, click-and-collect is the first step to activate their store network for online fulfillment.