Via.Delivery has announced a new e-commerce fulfillment offering, which we are calling Buy Online, Pickup Anywhere (BOPA).
This new service, which utilizes a network of more than 66,000 commercial pickup locations worldwide, with more than one-third located across the United States, enables pure play e-commerce vendors to give customers more options, including the ability to choose to have their packages delivered to any convenient location for pickup.
Via.Delivery also launched a quarterly shipping and delivery index to track BOPA adoption, which shows consumers are eager to take advantage of BOPA for its cost savings, security and convenience.
Shoppers also report being drawn to BOPA because it offers more convenience and security than residential delivery. Nearly 3 in 4 Americans (72%) are more worried about porch pirates now than before the pandemic. To protect packages, shoppers are choosing to have online orders delivered to locations such as convenience stores, grocery stores, pharmacies, and other retail locations where they can be held safely until picked up.
Consumers are rapidly adopting BOPA, with nearly 1 in 5 shoppers choosing this new delivery option at checkout, according to the Index analysis of thousands of e-commerce transactions. The Index shows that when shoppers are given the option to select shipping to an alternative delivery location at checkout, 18% do so.
“Buy Online, Pickup Anywhere solves pressing challenges that arose during the pandemic and subsequent supply chain issues,” said Mitchell Nikitin, CEO and co-founder of Via.Delivery. As an example, Nikitin explained, “At a time when residential shipping can cost 30% more than shipping to a commercial address, BOPA offers a lower-cost alternative while also providing consumers the ability to ship packages anywhere for convenient pickup.”
“Based on initial user data and the demand we’ve seen, we predict BOPA will become a preferred and widely used delivery method in the United States within the next 3-5 years,” said Nikitin. “This quarterly index data allows us to track BOPA adoption, while monitoring consumers’ shipping preferences.”
“The cost of shipping is the most common reason consumers give for using BOPA. In fact, 50% of online shoppers who use BOPA say they do so to save money,” Nitkin said. “Consumers have always disliked paying for expensive residential shipping — in many cases it is a deal breaker, which is evidenced by shoppers frequently abandoning their carts at checkout when they see what they owe for shipping.”
“We’re giving shoppers more options to choose delivery locations that are most convenient for them, while enabling them to save on shipping costs,” Nikitin said.
