Kibo Holiday Study: 25% Increase In Buy Online, Pickup In-Store Expected This Holiday Shopping Season

New study finds more shoppers plan to use BOPIS this holiday; 54% of shoppers state they will use inventory information on a website to justify a trip to the store

DALLAS – November 9, 2017 – Kibo, the world’s leading cloud-based omnichannel commerce platform, has released a new report on consumer shopping expectations and habits for the 2017 holiday season. Kibo’s Holiday Consumer Trends Report: 2017 Edition, is based on responses from 3,000 U.S. consumers and highlights a number of key findings and trends in fulfillment, inventory visibility, promotions, cart abandonment, gift returns, and more. These findings will be critical for retailers looking to win more consumers during the competitive holiday season.

According to the new research, 58% of shoppers consumers say they’ll rely on the buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS) fulfillment option this holiday shopping season, an increase of 25% over last year. In the fiercely competitive holiday environment, retailers must focus on BOPIS services if they want to maximize in-store foot traffic and thereby cement their brands’ reputations for stellar service across both digital and physical buying touchpoints.

Other key findings highlighted in the study include:

• Over half of shoppers (54%) said they use online inventory information to justify a trip to a store during the holidays.
• Consumers’ reasons for using BOPIS during the holiday include saving on shipping costs (66%), saving time while in-store (53%), and getting the product when it’s convenient (39%).
• 70% of shoppers have the expectation of receiving free shipping during the holidays, a clear influence of Amazon Prime.
• Almost half of shoppers surveyed (46%) indicated the top way to improve their experience is for retailers to provide offers and promotions that are relevant to their current gift search.
• 70% of shoppers indicated a relevant discount will make them more likely to visit or shop on a website during the holidays.
• 67% of shoppers expect free shipping when gifts are returned, and 65% expect to be able to return an online purchase to a store.

“It’s clear that consumer expectations for this holiday season are as high as ever, and retailers need to prepare by providing connected and seamless experiences across online and physical channels. BOPIS fulfillment and accessible inventory information are going to take center stage this season for the seemingly obvious reasons of saving busy holiday shoppers time and money,” said Tushar Patel, CMO, Kibo. “Retailers can further enhance their odds of winning more consumers by providing better personalized and relevant product recommendations and promotional offers. Consumers are shopping on the behalf of others this time of year. Personalization solutions that rely only on typical past behaviors will seem completely irrelevant while shopping for gifts. Only retailers using real-time individualization solutions can predict buying intent and change the offers in response to consumers’ real-time shopping behaviors. The benefits of this continues beyond the holiday season, as consumers fall back into more normal shopping behaviors. No shopper wants be haunted for the next six months by the doll they purchased for their niece at Christmas.”

Click here to download Kibo’s Holiday Consumer Trends Report: 2017 Edition, for further guidance on consumers’ omnichannel expectations for the holidays, from eCommerce site functionality to shipping speed and returns.

Methodology: The Kibo Holiday Consumer Trends Report includes survey feedback from 3,000 U.S. consumers, ages 18-65+, with 50% of the respondents female and 50% of the respondents male.