Shopper Insights for BOPIS and Same-Day: Promise, Pickup, and Pain Points

A customer places an order at 2:47 PM with a promised 6:00 PM pickup. At 5:53 PM, they receive a text: "Your order is being prepared." They arrive at 6:15 PM. The order isn't ready until 6:42 PM. They leave without buying the impulse items merchandised near pickup. The retailer counts this as a successful BOPIS transaction.

This gap between operational metrics and customer experience explains why 34% of shoppers who try buy-online-pickup-in-store services don't use them again, according to research from the International Council of Shopping Centers. Retailers track order completion rates and average wait times. Customers experience broken promises and wasted evenings.

The challenge intensifies as same-day delivery and rapid fulfillment become table stakes rather than differentiators. Target promises pickup in two hours. Walmart offers pickup in as little as 30 minutes. Amazon delivers groceries within hours. The operational complexity behind these promises creates countless moments where customer expectations and retail reality diverge.

Understanding where and why these services fail requires moving beyond aggregate metrics to capture the granular details of individual experiences. When a pickup takes 47 minutes instead of the promised 15, the operational dashboard shows an average. The customer experiences a specific sequence of decisions, communications, and frustrations that determine whether they'll use the service again.

The Measurement Problem in Omnichannel Fulfillment

Traditional customer satisfaction surveys miss the critical details that explain BOPIS and same-day delivery performance. A post-transaction email asking "How satisfied were you with your pickup experience?" arrives three days later, when the customer has forgotten whether the delay was 12 minutes or 27 minutes, whether the associate seemed rushed or apologetic, whether the parking was convenient or chaotic.

Retailers need to understand the decision architecture behind fulfillment choices. A shopper selects same-day delivery not because they want items today in the abstract, but because they're hosting dinner tomorrow and need specific ingredients, or because their child's birthday party is Saturday and the gift must arrive Friday. The urgency isn't uniform across orders or even across items within a single order.

This contextual complexity makes aggregate metrics misleading. A retailer might see that 89% of BOPIS orders are ready within the promised window and conclude the service performs well. But if the 11% of delayed orders disproportionately affect high-value customers placing time-sensitive orders, the business impact far exceeds what the average suggests. A parent waiting 40 minutes for a pickup that includes birthday candles and wrapping paper experiences a fundamentally different service failure than someone collecting routine household items.

The communication layer adds another dimension of complexity. Customers don't just evaluate whether their order arrived on time—they assess whether the retailer kept them informed, set accurate expectations, and provided useful options when problems emerged. A 30-minute delay with proactive communication and a clear explanation creates a different experience than a 15-minute delay with no notification and confusion about where to collect the order.

Where Rapid Fulfillment Actually Breaks

Research conducted across multiple retail categories reveals that BOPIS and same-day delivery failures cluster around five distinct pressure points, each with its own operational signature and customer impact.

The first failure mode involves inventory accuracy. A customer orders items marked as available for same-day pickup, receives confirmation, and arrives to find one or more items out of stock. The operational system showed inventory. The physical reality didn't match. This disconnect affects 23% of BOPIS orders according to Incisiv research, but the customer experience varies dramatically based on the item's importance and the retailer's response. When the missing item is central to the purchase purpose and the associate offers no meaningful alternative, the entire transaction fails regardless of what else the customer receives.

Preparation timing creates the second cluster of failures. Retailers optimize for average preparation time, but customers experience specific waits. The difference between a 12-minute wait and a 28-minute wait matters enormously when someone is double-parked with kids in the car or trying to make it to another appointment. The operational challenge involves balancing staff allocation, order batching, and real-time demand fluctuation. The customer challenge involves deciding whether to wait, leave and return, or cancel and shop elsewhere.

Communication gaps generate a third category of friction. Customers report receiving pickup notifications that don't match reality—texts saying orders are ready when they're still being prepared, or no notification at all when orders are actually ready. The issue isn't just timing accuracy but information utility. A customer wants to know whether to leave now or wait 15 minutes, whether to go to the front desk or a dedicated pickup area, whether to bring ID or just their phone. Vague or inaccurate communication forces customers to navigate ambiguity when they've specifically chosen these services to reduce uncertainty.

Physical logistics create the fourth failure pattern. Parking confusion, unclear signage, long walks from parking to pickup, inadequate staffing at pickup counters—these operational details accumulate into customer effort. A retailer might execute the order perfectly but lose the customer's loyalty because collecting it required circling the parking lot twice, walking through the entire store, and waiting behind three other people at a counter with one associate. The fulfillment succeeded. The experience failed.

Substitution decisions generate the fifth cluster of problems. When an ordered item is unavailable, someone must decide whether to substitute, what to substitute, and whether to charge the same price or adjust. These decisions happen under time pressure, often by associates with limited product knowledge and no insight into why the customer wanted the original item. A substitution that makes perfect sense operationally—replacing one brand of pasta sauce with another—might completely miss the customer's need if they ordered that specific brand because their child has food sensitivities.

The Economics of Broken Promises

The financial impact of BOPIS and same-day delivery failures extends well beyond individual transaction values. When a customer has a negative experience with rapid fulfillment, they typically don't just stop using that service—they reduce their overall spending with the retailer.

Research from Boston Retail Partners found that customers who have positive BOPIS experiences spend 23% more annually with that retailer than customers who only shop in-store or online. But customers who have negative BOPIS experiences spend 18% less than single-channel shoppers. The swing from +23% to -18% represents a 41-percentage-point difference in customer value, driven entirely by fulfillment experience quality.

The basket composition effect amplifies this impact. Customers using BOPIS or same-day delivery often add impulse items during pickup or browse additional products while waiting. A study by the International Council of Shopping Centers found that 47% of BOPIS customers make additional purchases during pickup visits. But this benefit only materializes when the pickup experience is smooth. Customers who wait longer than expected or encounter problems rarely browse—they leave as quickly as possible.

The operational costs of failure also compound. A delayed or problematic BOPIS order requires more associate time, generates customer service contacts, and often results in returns or refunds. A retailer might calculate that BOPIS costs $8.50 per order to fulfill, but problematic orders can cost $23-$31 when all the downstream impacts are included. At scale, this means that a 15% failure rate doesn't just affect 15% of orders—it can consume 35-40% of the total BOPIS cost structure.

The competitive implications create another layer of economic pressure. In many categories, customers choose retailers based primarily on fulfillment convenience and reliability. A shopper might prefer Target's product selection but consistently order from Walmart because Walmart's pickup is reliably faster. Once this behavioral pattern establishes, it's difficult to reverse even if Target improves its service, because the customer has stopped checking Target's options.

Research Approaches That Capture Fulfillment Reality

Understanding BOPIS and same-day delivery performance requires research methods that capture the temporal, contextual, and emotional dimensions of these experiences. Traditional surveys and focus groups struggle because they depend on retrospective recall of detailed sequences and emotional states.

The most revealing insights come from research conducted close to the actual experience, when customers can recall specific details about timing, communication, and decision-making. When a customer describes their most recent BOPIS experience within 24 hours, they remember whether the pickup took 8 minutes or 23 minutes, whether they received one notification or three, whether the associate seemed knowledgeable or confused. These details matter because they reveal the operational patterns that create friction.

The research must also capture the context that shaped customer expectations. Why did the customer choose BOPIS or same-day delivery for this particular order? What were they planning to do with the items? What else was happening in their day? A pickup delay matters differently when someone is collecting items for immediate use versus stocking up on routine purchases. The urgency context explains why some customers tolerate delays while others immediately switch retailers.

Comparative experiences provide another critical dimension. How does this retailer's BOPIS service compare to competitors? What has the customer learned to expect from rapid fulfillment services across different retailers? These comparisons reveal whether problems are seen as category-wide issues or specific retailer failures. A customer might accept that same-day delivery sometimes runs late if that's their experience across all retailers, but they'll penalize a retailer whose service is noticeably worse than alternatives.

The research also needs to explore the trade-offs customers make between different fulfillment options. When does someone choose BOPIS over same-day delivery, or same-day delivery over standard shipping? These decisions reveal the value hierarchy customers apply to speed, cost, convenience, and reliability. A retailer might assume customers primarily value speed, but research often shows that predictability and communication matter more—customers would rather have a realistic four-hour window with accurate updates than a two-hour promise that frequently runs over.

AI-powered conversational research has emerged as particularly effective for capturing these dynamics. The technology enables retailers to conduct detailed interviews with hundreds of customers who've recently used BOPIS or same-day delivery services, capturing granular details about specific experiences while they're still fresh. User Intuition's approach to consumer research has helped retailers identify patterns in fulfillment experiences that weren't visible in aggregate metrics or traditional surveys.

The conversational format allows the research to adapt to what each customer reveals. If someone mentions a communication problem, the system can explore exactly what messages they received, when, and how those messages shaped their decisions. If someone describes a substitution issue, the conversation can unpack why the substitution didn't work and what alternative approach would have succeeded. This adaptive depth reveals the operational specifics that drive customer behavior.

Patterns in High-Performing Fulfillment Operations

Retailers with consistently positive BOPIS and same-day delivery experiences share several operational characteristics that customer research helps identify and quantify.

The highest-performing operations set conservative promises and beat them consistently. Rather than promising 30-minute pickup and delivering in 45 minutes half the time, they promise 60 minutes and deliver in 35-40 minutes almost always. Customers consistently report higher satisfaction with slower promises that are reliably met than with faster promises that are frequently missed. The psychology is straightforward: a positive surprise (earlier than expected) creates delight, while a negative surprise (later than promised) creates frustration and distrust.

These retailers also invest heavily in communication infrastructure. Customers receive accurate, timely updates at each stage of the fulfillment process. More importantly, the communications provide actionable information—not just "your order is being prepared" but "your order will be ready in approximately 15 minutes." When delays occur, customers receive proactive notification with revised timing and often a brief explanation. This transparency doesn't eliminate delays, but it dramatically reduces the frustration delays create.

High performers also structure their substitution processes around customer intent rather than product equivalence. When an item is unavailable, the system considers why a customer might have ordered it and what alternatives would serve similar purposes. In some cases, this means offering a premium alternative at the original price. In others, it means not substituting at all and clearly communicating that the item is unavailable. Customer research reveals that people strongly prefer no substitution to a poor substitution—they'd rather know an item is missing and decide whether to shop elsewhere than receive an unwanted alternative.

The physical experience receives systematic attention in high-performing operations. Dedicated BOPIS parking spaces close to pickup areas. Clear signage visible from multiple approach angles. Adequate staffing at pickup counters during peak times. These investments don't directly improve fulfillment speed, but they dramatically reduce the effort customers expend to collect orders. Research shows that customers evaluate BOPIS experiences holistically—a 15-minute order preparation time feels much longer if collecting the order requires 10 minutes of parking and walking.

Finally, leading retailers create feedback loops that connect specific customer experiences to operational improvements. When customers report problems, the organization can trace those problems to specific operational decisions, process gaps, or resource constraints. This connection between customer voice and operational reality enables continuous improvement based on actual friction points rather than assumed problems.

The Substitution Challenge

Substitution decisions deserve particular attention because they represent a point where operational efficiency and customer satisfaction often conflict. From an operational perspective, substituting an unavailable item keeps the order complete and reduces the need for customer contact. From a customer perspective, a poor substitution is often worse than no substitution.

Research reveals that customers apply different mental models to substitutions depending on the product category and their purchase intent. For commodity items where brand doesn't matter much—trash bags, paper towels, basic staples—customers generally accept substitutions easily and often appreciate not having to make another trip. For items where specific characteristics matter—dietary restrictions, preferred brands, gift items—substitutions often fail because the retailer can't access the context that made the original item important.

The most successful retailers create substitution frameworks that acknowledge these differences. For categories where substitutions typically work, they empower associates or systems to substitute automatically within defined parameters. For categories where substitutions often fail, they default to customer notification and choice rather than automatic substitution.

Customer research also reveals that substitution communication matters as much as substitution quality. When customers discover substitutions upon pickup with no prior notification, they feel the retailer made decisions about their purchase without permission. When they receive notification before arriving—"The brand you ordered is unavailable, we've selected this alternative, reply YES to accept or NO to remove from your order"—they maintain control even when they accept the substitution. This sense of agency significantly affects satisfaction even when the substitute product is identical.

Price adjustments for substitutions create another layer of complexity. Customers report frustration when they're charged the same price for a lower-quality substitute, but they also find it awkward when they're charged more for a premium substitute they didn't choose. The highest-performing retailers default to charging the original price or less, treating the substitution as a service recovery opportunity rather than a revenue event.

Same-Day Delivery Versus BOPIS Trade-offs

Retailers often treat same-day delivery and BOPIS as similar services with different logistics, but customer research reveals they serve fundamentally different needs and create different expectation frameworks.

Customers choose BOPIS primarily for control and certainty. They want to know exactly when they'll have the items, and they're willing to invest effort in pickup to ensure that timing. The service appeals particularly to customers who need items for time-sensitive purposes—cooking tonight's dinner, completing a project this weekend, having supplies for an event tomorrow. The value proposition centers on reliability and timing precision.

Same-day delivery appeals to customers who prioritize convenience over control. They want items to arrive without effort on their part, and they're willing to accept some timing uncertainty in exchange for not having to drive, park, and collect. The service appeals particularly to customers making routine purchases or buying items that aren't urgently needed but would be nice to have today.

These different value propositions create different tolerance for problems. BOPIS customers become frustrated when pickup takes longer than expected because the entire value proposition is timing control. Same-day delivery customers become frustrated when they have to be home for a specific window or when deliveries arrive at inconvenient times, because the entire value proposition is convenience without effort.

The research also reveals that many customers use both services for different purchase occasions, applying sophisticated decision rules about which service fits which need. A customer might use BOPIS for groceries needed for tonight's dinner but same-day delivery for household items that can arrive anytime today. Understanding these decision patterns helps retailers optimize service availability and communication for different purchase contexts.

The Path to Fulfillment Excellence

Improving BOPIS and same-day delivery performance requires connecting operational metrics to customer experience patterns. The most effective approach involves several parallel work streams that together create sustained improvement.

The first priority involves establishing accurate baselines for current performance as customers experience it, not just as operational systems measure it. This means conducting research with recent BOPIS and same-day delivery customers to understand the full spectrum of experiences—the smooth transactions that create loyalty, the problematic ones that drive churn, and the mediocre ones that generate neither enthusiasm nor complaint but leave customers open to competitive alternatives.

The second priority involves identifying the operational patterns that create the most consequential customer friction. Not all problems matter equally. A 10-minute parking search creates more lasting frustration than a 10-minute wait for order preparation. Inaccurate pickup notifications cause more damage than no notifications at all. Missing items for time-sensitive purchases generate more churn than missing items for routine stock-ups. Customer research reveals which operational improvements will generate the largest customer experience gains.

The third priority involves testing operational changes with rapid customer feedback loops. When a retailer modifies its pickup notification system or redesigns its substitution process, customer research conducted within days of implementation reveals whether the change improved experiences and where unexpected problems emerged. This rapid feedback enables iterative refinement rather than large-scale changes based on assumptions about what customers want.

The fourth priority involves creating organizational alignment around customer experience metrics that complement operational metrics. Teams need to see not just order completion rates and average preparation times, but also customer effort scores, promise reliability rates, and experience quality distributions. When operational dashboards include customer experience measures, teams naturally optimize for outcomes that matter to customers rather than just operational efficiency.

User Intuition's research methodology has enabled retailers to compress the timeline for these improvements from quarters to weeks. By conducting conversational interviews with hundreds of customers who've recently used fulfillment services, retailers can identify specific friction points, test operational changes, and measure impact without the 6-8 week delays typical of traditional research approaches. The 48-72 hour turnaround means teams can validate improvements while the operational changes are still fresh and make rapid adjustments based on what customers actually experience.

Future Patterns in Rapid Fulfillment

The competitive dynamics of BOPIS and same-day delivery continue to evolve as customer expectations rise and operational capabilities advance. Several emerging patterns will likely shape how retailers compete on fulfillment over the next several years.

The first involves the shift from speed competition to reliability competition. As more retailers offer rapid fulfillment, the differentiator becomes less about who's fastest and more about who's most consistent. Customers increasingly value predictability over raw speed—they'd rather have a reliable four-hour window than an unreliable two-hour promise. This shift rewards retailers who invest in operational consistency and accurate expectation-setting over those chasing speed records.

The second pattern involves increasing personalization of fulfillment options. Rather than offering the same service levels to all customers for all orders, retailers are beginning to tailor options based on purchase context, customer history, and stated preferences. A high-value customer with a history of time-sensitive orders might see different fulfillment options than a price-sensitive customer making routine purchases. This personalization requires sophisticated understanding of how different customers value different service attributes.

The third trend involves tighter integration between fulfillment services and broader customer relationships. Retailers are starting to use fulfillment experiences as relationship-building opportunities rather than just transaction completion. A smooth BOPIS pickup becomes a chance to offer personalized recommendations. A same-day delivery creates an opportunity to introduce new products. This integration requires viewing fulfillment as part of the customer experience rather than just a logistics operation.

The fourth pattern involves growing sophistication in how retailers measure and manage fulfillment economics. Early BOPIS and same-day delivery programs often operated as loss leaders, valued primarily for competitive necessity. Increasingly, retailers are developing detailed understanding of how fulfillment services affect customer lifetime value, basket composition, and channel mix. This economic clarity enables more strategic decisions about where to invest in service improvements and which customer segments to prioritize.

These evolving patterns make continuous customer research increasingly important. As fulfillment services become more sophisticated and customer expectations continue rising, retailers need ongoing insight into how customers evaluate their experiences, what trade-offs they're willing to make, and where operational reality diverges from customer expectations. The retailers who build systematic approaches to capturing and acting on these insights will pull ahead as rapid fulfillment becomes table stakes rather than differentiator.

The promise of buy-online-pickup-in-store and same-day delivery extends beyond operational efficiency to fundamental transformation of how customers interact with retailers. But that promise only materializes when retailers understand and eliminate the friction that currently defines too many fulfillment experiences. The path forward requires connecting operational metrics to customer reality, identifying the specific patterns that drive satisfaction and frustration, and building feedback loops that enable continuous improvement based on what customers actually experience rather than what systems measure.