This year, retailers were forced to tackle unforeseen challenges. Lockdowns and social distancing measures brought foot traffic around the world to a standstill, making it difficult to reach even the closest customers.
Features like local pickup help businesses engage local shoppers and increase online sales. With local pickup, customers can buy online for in-store or curbside pickup at your retail store or another location (like a warehouse).
Since the launch of Shopify’s local pickup feature in April, businesses offering the service have seen that:
- Online shoppers who chose local pickup at checkout were 13% more likely to complete their online purchase
- Online shoppers who chose local pickup spent at least 23% more than customers who opted for shipping
To help encourage your customers to opt for local pickup, we've introduced pickup availability for your online store. Product detail pages can now show shoppers whether products are available for pickup at a nearby location. This makes it easier than ever to increase online store conversions and bring local shoppers to your door.
Introducing: Pickup availability for online orders
Pickup availability complements the local pickup option at checkout by letting shoppers know whether each item they’re browsing is in stock and available for pickup at a nearby location. Local pickup offers a win-win for you and your customers. Shoppers can skip costly shipping fees and pick up at their convenience. And store staff can fulfill orders simply and use pickups as an opportunity to upsell.
Pickup availability is an online store theme feature that is currently available on Debut by Shopify, and themes offered by the following developers:
For a complete list of themes with pickup availability functionality, visit the Shopify Theme Store.
Increase conversions and grow cart sizes by giving local customers another reason to say yes
Convert browsers into buyers with the promise of convenience
Don’t lose local customers to shipping times that are beyond your control. Showing potential buyers that the products they’re evaluating are in stock and available for nearby pickup at their earliest convenience gives them another reason to say yes, and leaves you with fewer abandoned carts due to delivery uncertainty.
Buy online, upsell in-store
Local pickups offer a unique opportunity to build customer relationships. Bring nearby online shoppers into your retail stores to experience your brand in a new way. Using a customer's online order history, you can offer tailored product recommendations that help you upsell at pickup, increase order size, and make lasting impressions.
Getting started with pickup availability for online orders
1. Make sure you have local pickup enabled for your retail locations
To show if products online are available for pickup, you need to enable local pickup for one or more of your locations. Learn how to set the local pickup option as a delivery method for your store.
2. Select a supported theme
Once you've enabled local pickup for your retail locations, product availability will automatically be visible on your product pages if you're using a supported theme. To get started:
- Ensure you are using a theme that supports the product availability feature. You can view supported themes here.
- Ensure your theme is updated to the latest version. Learn how to update your theme.
If pickup availability is not supported by your current theme, you can work with a developer to customize your theme or hire a Shopify expert to help you add it.
3. Make local pickup workflows easier for POS staff
The Pro subscription of the all-new Shopify POS enables your store staff to keep track of and prepare orders for pickup directly from POS. Add the local pickup tile to your POS Home screen and enable push notifications to make fulfilling pickup orders as easy as possible.
Make shopping easier for your local customers
Pickup availability for online orders helps to ensure that you and your customers get the most out of local pickup. It drives awareness among local shoppers of the option to pick up online orders earlier in the buying journey, when it’s most likely to give them another reason to say yes. It also gives you the opportunity to deliver memorable and personalized in-person shopping experiences that will increase cart sizes and ensure that your base of loyal, local customers keeps growing.