Kibo customers had 563% increase in BOPIS at pandemic’s peak

The surge of buy-online-pickup-in-store that accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic is diminishing, but only slightly. 

That’s according to cloud commerce company Kibo, which said that its 260 total retail clients received a 563% increase in BOPIS orders at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. BOPIS, which also includes curbside pickup, was gaining momentum as a fulfillment tactic during the 2019 holiday season, but gained significant traction while social distancing regulations were in effect, Kibo noted. Additionally, Kibo saw an increase in all online ordering of 194% at the peak.

Kibo found the following trends related to online ordering and BOPIS fulfillment:
- 563% year-over-year increase in BOPIS in April compared to a 374% year-over-year increase for June; and 

- 193% year-over-year increase in all online orders in April compared to a 184% year-over-year increase for May

“These decreasing trends in online ordering and BOPIS fulfillment show that consumers are headed back into stores, but that there is still highly elevated demand for these options over pre-COVID-19 forecasts,” the company stated. “It is unlikely that consumers will revert back to past behavior completely, indicating that retailers must embrace a flexible fulfillment strategy to capture all forms of demand over the coming weeks and months.

With Kibo’s frictionless order management solution, retailers are able to quickly pivot to accommodate customer needs with targeted and personalized fulfillment solutions, the company said. Kibo is designed to scale easily with no change to the customer experience and no increased lag or load times for retailers. 

“As people were ordered to shelter in place, retailers were tasked with adjusting to a dramatic shift in shopping behaviors from in-store purchases to ordering online with buy online pickup in store (BOPIS) and curbside pickup options. The added complexity of different rules at different store locations made it particularly complex for retailers to manage,” said Meyar Sheik, chief commerce officer at Kibo. “We are delighted to have supported our retailer clients with frictionless order management during this record-breaking surge in customer demand for online and touchless fulfillment.”