Pickup Gets Boost in the US, With India and Brazil Posting Curbside Pickup Gains

As physical retail roared back to life in 2022, in-store pickup of items ordered online saw commensurate growth, showing the strong consumer affinity for in-store experiences.

This is among the important findings from the “2023 Global Digital Shopping Index” (GDSI), a PYMNTS and Cybersource collaboration based on surveys of over 13,000 consumers and 3,000 merchants in six nations. India is new to the GDSI in this, its third annual release.

PYMNTS found that the United States has the largest pickup economy per capita, while India is home to the largest pickup economy overall. The U.S. pickup economy also grew more year over year than that of any of the five countries we studied in 2021 and 2022, which includes Brazil, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

The new GDSI shows that buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) and curbside pickup options are more critical to driving sales in the U.S. than they are in any other country we studied, and it is getting even more important over time.

“Year over year, 26% more consumers across the five countries we studied used BOPIS options in 2022, as consumers appeared to favor the certainty and cost-effectiveness of pickup, and more merchants integrated pickup options into their order flows,” the study stated.

The uptick in BOPIS is a memo to merchants around the world that shoppers want more of the in-store and curbside options they grew accustomed to during pandemic lockdowns and restrictions, “whether by employing workers or equipping brick-and-mortar stores with in-store kiosks where shoppers can pick up their orders,” the study found.

Nearly one-third of U.S. consumers — some 16 million individuals — who made their most recent purchase online, picked it up in a store or curbside, marking a 37% year-over-year increase.

And while GDSI newcomer India has the largest pickup economy overall, 25% of all online shoppers in Brazil picked up their most recent purchases in stores, which is a 74% increase from last year, proving the worldwide appeal of this method.

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