Five Below rolls out BOPIS nationwide
Five Below is the latest retailer to provide a popular omnichannel shopping feature.
The tween and teen extreme-value retailer is now offering customers nationwide the option to buy online and pick up orders in-store (BOPIS). At all of Five Below’s more than 1,250 stores located across the U.S., this new buying option applies to the entire $1-5 extreme value assortment of products including games, tech, arts & crafts, candy, snacks, and beauty; as well as the company’s “Five Beyond” premium section with slightly higher prices.
Instacart is launching its nationwide BOPIS program as the retailer plans to open 375 to 400 new stores during the next two fiscal years, and 550 to 600 new stores over fiscal years 2024 and 2025.
Five Below’s new expanded BOPIS program is not the retailer’s first foray into omnichannel commerce, In December 2020, Five Below began partnering with Instacart. After testing the online delivery service at 400 stores for several months, Five Below is now offering Instacart delivery of digital orders at most locations.
The Instacart partnership enables same-day delivery of products including pool floats, beach towels, outdoor games, cell phone cases and chargers, room décor, pet products, apparel, beauty and wellness items, licensed collectibles, baseballs and basketballs, and candy.
Customers can begin shopping from Five Below on Instacart by visiting the dedicated Five Below page on the Instacart site, or by downloading the Instacart app on their mobile device. Customers then enter their ZIP code and select their local Five Below store to begin adding products from the retailer to their Instacart cart. For all orders, an Instacart personal shopper will put the order together within the customer’s selected time frame for same-day delivery, or curbside pickup in select markets.
[Read more: Five Below expands same-day delivery to 1,100 stores]
BOPIS appeals to younger shoppers
As a teen- and tween-focused retailer, Five Below’s decision to go all in on BOPIS make strategic sense. According to the Verint Experience Index for Retail Report 2022, fewer than 36% of surveyed Gen Z and millennial consumers under 40 prefer to visit stores when interacting with retailers, compared to more than two-thirds of surveyed boomer shoppers 57 and older.
However, Gen Z and millennial respondents do place a value in the retail store in their path to purchase, seeing its utility as a click-and-collect depot for merchandise. While only 28% of these respondents make purchases via the retailer’s website or app, 51% make purchases either via buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS) or via curbside pick-up.
“In today’s fast-paced and hectic world, we know how important it is to consumers to have convenient ways to obtain the products they want and need quickly,” said George Hill, chief retail officer of Five Below. “When we launched our partnership with Instacart in 2020, our customers really enjoyed the new level of convenience it brought to their shopping experience, so we are excited to now offer customers the opportunity to buy online pick up in store.”
Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Five Below today has more than 1,200 stores in 41 states.