Study: In-store online order fulfillment expected to rise
Digital capabilities are reshaping how retailers plot their brick-and-mortar expansions.
One-in-four online orders are now fulfilled through a physical store, a figure projected to rise to 35.4% by 2030, according to a new report from real estate services and management company Colliers. The firm noted that despite the rise of e-commerce, 85.1% of U.S. retail sales still flow through stores, with a majority (71%) retailers expanding their physical footprints in 2026.
Retailers who are early adopters of in-store artificial intelligence are reporting 79% higher store sales growth, according to the report, while 34% report higher buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) performance compared to slower-moving competitors.
BOPIS now accounts for 8.9% of total retail revenue, yet only 18% of retailers report having “fully optimized” the process.
“One of the biggest misconceptions around AI is that it reduces the importance of physical retail,” said Nicole Larson, senior manager of national retail research at Colliers. “In reality, retailers are expanding footprints and redesigning stores as physical locations are becoming even more critical to fulfillment, customer engagement and operational efficiency.”
Additional insights from Colliers’ report include the following:
•Retail leaders increased IT spending by 52% over the past five years, compared to 13% among slower-moving peers. Those who have invested in technology are projected to see profits grow nearly three times as fast as competitors in 2026.
•Nearly half of shoppers already use AI for product recommendations, and roughly 75% say it significantly influences their purchasing decisions.
•Consumer adoption of AI agents is projected to jump from 19% to 46% by the end of 2026.
[READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: The most popular AI tool for shopping research is…]
“In-store technology has a history of being underestimated,” said Anjee Solanki, national director of U.S. retail services & practice groups at Colliers. “The skeptics who delayed IoT investment in the mid-2010s felt vindicated when early beacon deployments underdelivered – and then found themselves years behind when that same infrastructure became the backbone of AI. The pattern is repeating, but the cost of delay is steeper this time because retailers now require fulfillment-grade infrastructure, and integrated data systems that cannot simply be added later.”
Colliers’ full “How AI Is Redefining Retail Real Estate in 2026” can be found here.
