Buy Online, Pick Up In Store (BOPIS) on Shopify: The Complete Guide for Multi-Location Merchants

Customers want two answers before they get in the car. Where is your store, and is the thing I want actually there. Buy online, pick up in store is what happens when your site can answer both. This guide explains the whole system in plain English, whether or not you ever install anything.

What BOPIS is

BOPIS stands for buy online, pick up in store. A customer orders and pays on your website, then collects the order at one of your locations. No shipping fee for them, no parcel for you, and a walk-in who often buys one more thing at the counter. You will also hear click and collect, in-store pickup, and curbside. Same idea, different counters.

What Shopify already gives you

More than most merchants realize. Every Shopify plan includes local pickup at checkout, free. The customer chooses the store inside Shopify's own checkout, after deciding to buy, which means nothing interferes with Shop Pay, Apple Pay, or the Buy Now button. If you have one store and patient customers, you may not need anything else.

Shopify also tracks inventory per location in your admin, and most themes show a pickup availability widget on the product page. What it does not include is the finding layer: no searchable map of your stores, no per-store stock a shopper can compare, and no home for dealers. That gap is where the sale leaks.

The ten minute version of turning it on

The full tutorial has its own post, but here is the shape of it. First, add each store that holds real stock as a location: Settings, then Locations, one entry per shop.

Settings, then Locations, then Add location

Second, switch on Pickup in store for that location and set the two settings that matter: the expected pickup time, which is a promise your quietest day must keep, and the ready-for-pickup message, written like a person: bring your confirmation email when you come to collect your order.

The ready-time promise and the pickup notification, the two settings that matter

Third, nothing. Pickup now appears inside Shopify's own checkout, orders route to the right store, and marking one ready sends your message automatically. Express checkout stays on for everyone.

The one lesson that saves you pain: keep one list

Any pickup or locator app you consider handles your locations one of two ways, and this is the question to ask before installing anything.

Some keep their own list. Your stores and stock live inside the app, separate from Shopify. It works on day one. By day thirty you have two versions of the truth: the map says one thing, your admin says another, and a customer drives to a store that sold out on Tuesday.

Some read Shopify's list. Your admin stays the single source of truth. The stock on the map is your real stock. Add a location in Shopify and it appears on the map. Nothing to retype, nothing to drift apart.

Whatever you install, choose the second kind. Inventory accuracy is the entire point of showing inventory.

Where ShopBOPIS comes in

ShopBOPIS is the second kind. It reads the locations you already manage and puts them on a Google Maps locator your customers can search, with directions, hours, and photos built in. Search is forgiving the way real people need it to be, typos, abbreviations, neighborhoods, powered by Gemini AI. Each store can display its products with live stock synced from Shopify, so in stock nearby is a fact, not a guess.

The same location inside ShopBOPIS, ready for the map

There is a free plan, and your own stores are on a map before your coffee goes cold. Why not install it and see, instead of imagining it?

Dealers and B2B networks

Selling through dealers and stockists changes nothing about the lesson. They belong on the same map as pins, not in your Shopify location list, because they hold none of your inventory. If they live in Shopify's native B2B Companies and Locations, they sync onto the map without retyping. And for shelves you do not control, show what the dealer carries and let the customer call to confirm. Honest beats wrong, every time.

Which ShopBOPIS plan fits your store?

Start on Free today. If you outgrow it, Basic gives you a full month free to decide.

Putting it together

1. Turn on Shopify's free local pickup for the stores that hold real stock.
2. Add the finding layer when customers need to see where you are and what is in stock: the map, the search, the per-store products.
3. Put dealers on the map as pins, honestly labeled.
4. Keep one list. Shopify is the truth, and everything else reads from it.

Common questions

Does Shopify have a built-in store locator?
No. Locations and inventory live in your admin, but there is no customer-facing map. That is what a locator app adds.

What is the difference between BOPIS and click and collect?
Nothing. BOPIS is the common term in North America; click and collect is more common in the UK, Europe, and Australia.

Can customers see what is in stock at each store?
Yes, when the locator syncs with Shopify. The number on the map is the number in your admin, updated as you sell.

Do I need to change my checkout?
No. Pickup happens inside Shopify's own checkout on every plan, so express checkout stays on for everyone.