Shipping and delivery platform Via.Delivery on Tuesday (Feb. 8) launched an eCommerce fulfillment offering called Buy Online, Pickup Anywhere (BOPA) that allows shoppers to get their orders at more than 66,000 locations across the U.S. and around the world, according to a company announcement.
The company also debuted a quarterly shipping and delivery index to track BOPA adoption, showing customers are embracing the concept because it offers cost savings, security and convenience.
“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, in the company announcement.
“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,” he said.
Almost 1 in 5 shoppers (18%) choose BOPA at checkout, according to the Index, which analyzed thousands of eCommerce transactions. Via.Delivery launched in Europe in 2019 and in the U.S. in 2021.
“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,” Nikitin said in the announcement.
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Nikitin told PYMNTS that Via.Delivery, which combines commercial freight rates and claim center pickups rather than doorstep drop-off, has more than 2,000 merchants offering it as a delivery option at checkout.
About 70% of package volume in Russia and Europe is delivered this way to designated drop-off points for customers to pick up, but the method was underused and overly complex in the U.S.
By adding the commercial delivery/claim center pickup option at checkout, and then simplifying the process of selecting which of the more than 20,000 U.S. locations is closest, Via.Delivery says its service is equivalent to BOPIS (buy online, pickup in-store) for direct-to-consumer (D2C) merchants with no physical stores.
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