If you sell online and also run physical stores, your customers already want BOPIS. They just call it order online, pick it up today, and skip the shipping wait.
Here is what BOPIS actually is, why it has become table stakes for multi-location retailers, and how to offer it on Shopify without touching your checkout.
What is BOPIS?
BOPIS stands for buy online, pick up in store. A customer orders and pays on your website, chooses a nearby store, and collects in person, usually the same day or the next. You will also hear it called click and collect, in-store pickup, or curbside pickup. The mechanics are identical: the order happens online, the collection happens at a location, and the customer skips shipping entirely.
Why BOPIS matters for Shopify merchants
Customers expect it. Pickup went from a convenience to a habit, and shoppers now check for it the way they check for free shipping.
It lifts conversion. In stock at your nearest store, ready today removes the two biggest reasons carts get abandoned: shipping cost and shipping time.
It grows baskets. A customer who comes in to collect an order often picks up something else while they are there. Your website becomes a foot-traffic driver.
It cuts your shipping bill. Every order collected in store is an order you never pack or ship.
It builds trust. Showing real stock per location makes even non-pickup shoppers believe your site, because in stock beats add to cart with no context.
Start with what Shopify already gives you
Before you buy anything, turn on the part Shopify includes for free. Native in-store pickup works on every plan, and the customer selects the store inside Shopify's own checkout, so Shop Pay, Apple Pay, and the Buy Now button all keep working. For the pickup order itself, that is genuinely all you need. We walk through it in how to turn on in-store pickup with no app.
The gap native pickup leaves
Native pickup takes the order. It does not help a customer find the store in the first place. There is no map, no way to show which of your locations has the item in stock right now, and no way to display the independent dealers who carry your product but hold none of your inventory. For one shop that is fine. For a multi-location brand or a dealer network, that finding layer is the whole game, and it sits entirely outside your checkout.
What a complete BOPIS setup adds
On top of native pickup, three things turn a pickup option into a sales channel:
- Findable locations. A real map with search that handles typos and neighborhoods, powered by Google Maps and Gemini AI, so customers reach the nearest store instead of bouncing.
- Honest per-location inventory. Live stock at your own stores, synced from Shopify so the number on the map is the number in your admin. At dealers you do not control, show that they carry the product and let the customer call to confirm.
- Your dealer network on the map. Sync Shopify's native B2B Companies and Locations so your wholesale network appears as searchable pins, without spending a Shopify location on each one.
Why it converts
A shopper who can see that the store ten minutes away has the item in stock, and who can collect it today without paying for shipping, has nothing left to hesitate over. That is the difference between a map that decorates your site and one that sells.
Getting started
- Confirm each of your own stores is a Shopify location with inventory tracking on.
- Turn on native pickup for those stores. It is free and it is enough for the order.
- Add the finding layer: a searchable map with live per-location inventory, and your dealers as pins.
- Tell customers pickup is available, on your product pages and in email.
Common questions
Is BOPIS free on Shopify?
The pickup order is. Native in-store pickup is built into every plan at no cost. You only pay for software when you want the map, live per-location inventory, and a dealer locator on top.
Does offering pickup mean disabling Shop Pay?
No. When pickup is selected inside Shopify's checkout instead of on the cart page, express checkout has nothing to skip, so Shop Pay, Apple Pay, and Buy Now stay on.
Does BOPIS work for dealers and wholesale?
Yes. Sync Shopify's native B2B Companies and Locations and your dealer network shows up on the same map, as searchable pins.
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