THE PROBLEM

Our team wanted to bring the expertise of the in store experience to the instant gratification of the internet. We needed to bridge the gap between both worlds and allow our customers the opportunity to quickly order a product online, skip the store lines, and get out to their adventure as quickly as possible. All the while coordinating with each individual store to make sure that the product was in-stock, purchaseable online, and can be ready for pick-up in a two hour time period.

THE PROcess

As part of an early stage tiger team, our group of five designers was tasked with research, concept, and strategy. for the better part of a week our small team was sequestered in a room with a whiteboard to come up with a plan to kick-off the project. At the end of the week our goal was to have a solid jumping off point and clear timeline for the over-all project. We began by scouring current examples and pulling the best of the best for a teardown. rom there we focused on what our technology is capable of in the present, and where we want to be int he future to help us narrow down each phase of design. Consulting with Baymard along the way we created a solid recipe of best-practice guidelines for our project. 

Testing

Once a solid direction for Bopus was identified I was asked to create a test plan and determine next steps/recommendations for moving forward. Prototyping was done using Axure RP and testing was carried out in our Seattle Flagship store with REI customers.

Recommendations:

Based on test findings a set of actionable findings were recommended as next steps:

• As shipping will be the default choice, I have moved this to the primary spot in the bopus feature.

• Stock levels on Store finder – messaging can be surfaced for low inventory scenarios: “Hurry! Only a few left.” Inventory levels would need to be determined based on product to be accurate – therefor we may be able to surface the “hurry” message in order create a sense of urgency for items with fewer than 3 or 5 left in stock.

• I have updated the Store finder selection button to show the message “select store” - this implies a less permanent decision and is a standard that is used across competitor sites.

• Info button on Store finder: Surfaces store hours and contact phone number

Next Steps:

• Find in store is redundant to most users. However, I am not quite comfortable removing this button at the moment. It’s possible to degrade the priority by making it a link. However, I would prefer to run this through AB testing to make sure we’re making the right decision.

• Further explore how clarifying information can be surfaced to help our users understand the implications of what BOPUS is/isn't.

  • Anthropologie has recently added a Bopus feature that is incredibly similar to the way we’re approaching things. Attached is a walkthrough of some of the process, but here’s a link to an item with a bopus-able item if you’d like to explore yourself. I’m a fan of the way they surface the address of the store once the store is chosen and the way they’re surfacing a clarifying message on the add to cart button. Clarifying information is given in the checkout flow (via modal stating hold times and explaining the process) when you click the “24 hours” link.

THE Metrics

In the first 60 days alone we saw massive improvements in customer satisfaction as well as a nice increase in our overall number of items purchased as well as dollar amount per order. 

Customer feedback:

“Everything was great.  This store had just begun using in-store pick-up with online ordering and handled it very well.”

“Great experience, no improvement needed”

“This order was perfection.  It was ready for pickup well before I was even ready to go get it!”

60 Day Metrics:

·         $1.2M in Demand

·         Over 18,900 BOPUS items have been ordered

·         Over 120 Bikes have been BOPUSed! 

·         30% of the BOPUS orders are made on a mobile device using REI.com

·         BOPUS demand is performing at ~82% of forecast since go-live.