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–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Kibo, the world’s leading cloud-based unified 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 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.

About Kibo

Kibo empowers retailers and branded manufacturers to achieve optimal
performance of B2C and B2B commerce through unified consumer
experiences. With over 40 years of innovations, Kibo provides a complete
omnichannel commerce platform delivered with the lowest total cost of
ownership and the fastest time to market. By leveraging cloud
technologies, individualized buying experiences, and true enterprise
scale, Kibo enables you to reach higher peaks of sales and consumer
loyalty. No matter the challenge, Kibo powers your success. For more
information, visit kibocommerce.com.

Contacts

Ketner Group PR & Marketing (for Kibo)
Mariana
Fischbach, 512-794-8876
mariana@ketnergroup.com