In-store pickup of online orders can lift sales

In-store pickup of online orders can lift sales

As competition for retail sales increases, in-store pickup of online orders is emerging as a more important opportunity for multi-channel retailers to build customer relationships and increase sales both online and in stores, Forrester Research Inc. says in a new study, “Multichannel: In-Store Pickup Gains Importance.” In-store pickup of web orders targets the increasingly crucial cross-channel shopper. The web already influences nearly $400 billion in U.S. store sales per year, a figure projected to reach $1 trillion by 2012, or about one-third of total retail sales, Forrester says. In addition, in-store pickup can help boost online visitor-to-sales conversion rates and make the web more attractive to the 9% of consumers who have never made an online purchase, Forrester says.