Curbside pickup lets your customers make an order online and pick it up at your store, warehouse, or designated pickup location. It’s similar to buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS), except the customer never has to leave their vehicle. When they arrive, you or your sales staff bring the order out to their car.
Due to its convenience and consumer demand, curbside pickup is here to stay. In fact, according to Forrester’s Retail Topic Insights Survey from 2024, half of online adults in the US used store pickup for some portion of their online orders over the past three months.
Here, you’ll discover what curbside pickup is, how it works, how it can benefit your business, and how to execute curbside pickup in your retail store. Plus, you’ll see examples of local retailers making curbside pickup work for their business.
What is curbside pickup?
Curbside pickup is a service offered by retailers so customers can place orders online, then drive to their local store to pick them up. The customer parks in a designated area near the store entrance, and when the order is ready, a store associate brings the customer’s order out to them.
The convenience that curbside pickup provides for shoppers has made it a powerful tactic for retailers to strengthen their omnichannel retail sales strategy.
This order fulfillment service can increase sales and customer satisfaction. It might be easier for retail giants like Target and Walmart to implement, but even if you’re starting out or expanding into more locations, there are solutions you can use to offer your customers curbside pickup.
How does curbside pickup work?
Here’s how curbside pickup might look in your retail store:
- The customer shops via your website, and during the checkout process they can select curbside pickup.
- The customer completes payment online via your ecommerce website.
- You receive a notification for the order and can prioritize packing it.
- Once you’ve confirmed that the inventory is in stock, you send a notification to the customer letting them know it’s ready for curbside pickup. At this time, you also tell them what to do once they arrive—for example, if they should call or text you when they’re at the curb.
- When the customer arrives to pick up their order, you or your staff go out to their car to hand it over.
- The customer drives off feeling instant gratification because they didn’t have to wait for delivery. You’re done!
The advantages of curbside pickup for your business
Capture last-minute demand
Shoppers don’t stop shopping when shipping deadlines don’t match their needs—they simply try to get their order another way.
For example, during the 2024 holiday season, curbside pickup accounted for 17.5% of online orders, peaking on December 23, when it drove 37.8% of online sales for retailers offering the service.
With Shopify, you can offer local pickup at checkout for each of your retail locations. Show customers their expected pickup date and availability on product pages and at checkout to encourage them to use the service.
Fulfill orders faster
Some shoppers expect near-instant fulfillment. Brands like Best Buy have shown how it’s possible to fulfill online orders quickly.
In Q3 of its fiscal year 2025, around 45% of its domestic online sales were fulfilled via in-store pickup. Even more impressively, more than 90% of those orders were ready for the customer in less than 30 minutes.
Streamlining your retail operations is key to hitting those numbers. With Shopify POS Pro, your staff can manage the entire flow, from activating pickup notifications to prepping the order and marking it as complete.
Reduce last-mile costs
Shifting fulfillment from a central warehouse to your retail stores is scalable and efficient. Walmart credits its 22% year-over-year ecommerce growth in Q1 of its fiscal year 2025 to store-fulfilled pickup and delivery service.
Shopify helps you maximize this strategy with features like ship to store and store transfers. When an item is out of stock at a customer’s preferred pickup location, you can transfer inventory between stores instead of shipping.
Build loyalty with a seamless experience
A great curbside experience drives repeat business. Shopify helps you build this same reliability with simple, effective tools. You can add pickup tiles to the POS Home screen for easy staff access and send automated notifications to ping customers the moment their order is ready.
Turn your store into a fulfillment hub
Your stores are capable of becoming micro-fulfillment hubs that carry a share of your ecommerce volume. At Target, for instance, same-day services now make up more than two-thirds of digital sales, with the company’s curbside pickup service alone bringing in more than $6 billion in the first two quarters of 2024.
You might think creating a fulfillment hub is a multiyear project. But after replatforming to Shopify, Staples rolled out click-and-collect and curbside pickup across all of its Canadian stores in less than 72 hours.
The fulfillment hub model also extends to your wholesale business. Shopify now allows you to offer in-store pickup for B2B customers. Now, trade partners can collect orders from a retail outlet quickly and avoid freight charges.
How to set up curbside pickup in Shopify
1. Enable local pickup for each location
Start by turning on the local pickup option in your store’s settings. Once enabled, customers can select local pick-up at checkout.
- In your Shopify Admin, go to Settings, then Shipping and delivery.
- Find the pickup in store section and turn the option on for each retail location where you want to offer it.
- Configure the settings for each location, including:
- The expected pickup time, to manage customer expectations
- Clear pickup instructions, such as where to park, store hours, or what ID to bring
Note: By default, local pickup is only offered at checkout when the entire order is in stock at that specific location.
2. Allow store transfers for out-of-stock locations.
To avoid losing a sale when an item is out of stock at one location, you can use your other stores as a source of inventory.
Enable store transfers to move an item from a store that has it in stock to the customer’s chosen pickup location. The system tracks and moves the stock between your locations, reserving the inventory at the origin store until it is officially received at the destination.
For orders requiring a transfer, you can set a different, longer processing time to account for the extra step.
3. Show pickup availability on product pages (PDP)
Give customers the information they need before they even add an item to their cart.
Add the pickup availability section to your Theme’s product pages. Shoppers will be able to see if a specific product variant is available for pickup at their preferred store location.
4. Set realistic processing times and dates
Configure your processing time and delivery dates in your Shopify settings. You can set different processing times for in-stock orders versus those that require a store transfer.
To improve conversion rates, keep your standard processing time to approximately two business days to display faster dates to shoppers.
5. Run the curbside workflow in Shopify POS
Your in-store team can manage the entire curbside process directly from Shopify POS. Add the “Pickup in store” tile to your POS home screen for easy access.
From there, staff can use dedicated actions to prepare the order, send the customer a “Ready for pickup” notification, and finally, mark the order as “Picked up” when they hand it off to the customer.
Technology for a seamless curbside experience
Automated arrival notifications and geofencing
Customers don’t really like waiting for their curbside orders. That’s why retailers use location-based tech to give staff a heads up when customers arrive in the parking lot.
- Target, for example, integrated Apple CarPlay support so its Drive Up customers can notify the store of their arrival directly from their car’s display.
- Best Buy allows customers to track their Curbside or Locker Pickup status on their phone’s lock screen after they’ve alerted the store that they have arrived.
Arrival detection, whether through a user tap or geofencing, helps staff stage orders and cut down dwell time in the parking lot.
Order management and POS integration
Curbside pickup is another touchpoint in your unified commerce strategy. An integrated system like Shopify POS helps you manage orders and strengthen customer relationships.
While your team manages the operational workflow in POS, the real advantage comes from the unified data it provides. Every pickup is connected to a unified customer profile that tracks their entire history with your brand, both online and in-store.
Having access to that profile gives your staff the context to create a personal connection during the handoff. It also allows you to continue the conversation long after they’ve driven away by sending targeted follow-up emails or adding them to specific marketing segments for future campaigns.
Using smart lockers for 24/7 pickup
Smart lockers let you offer pickup long after your doors have closed, giving customers the ultimate convenience. Best Buy already offers 24/7 pickup lockers in some markets, so people can grab their orders whenever it fits their schedule. If you want to use smart lockers, companies like Smiota and Quadient offer options to rent or buy.
How successful retailers manage curbside pickup
Large retailers like Nordstrom, Walmart, and Target may have been the first to offer curbside pickup, but this order fulfillment option is vital for retailers of all sizes.
Today, smaller retailers are gradually embracing this service. They make it work by advertising curbside pickup options via their ecommerce website and social media.
Clothes Mentor
Clothes Mentor sells gently used name-brand and designer clothing. The brand offers shipping and curbside pickup options. When customers get to the product page or checkout, they see an option to ship or to pick up.
Whiskeyjack Boutique
Whiskeyjack Boutique sells Canadian-made gifts and offers delivery, as well as in-store and curbside pickup (simply call when you’re nearby, and someone will bring your order out to you).
“We use the Shopify POS to manage all of our online orders and curbside pickups,” says co-founder Allison Mistakidis. “We’re able to print the delivery slips to attach to the orders, which makes them easy to find when the customer arrives for pickup.”
Whiskeyjack Boutique also advertises its curbside pickup options online in the header of its website. And, it offers local delivery for all orders over $50.
True North Yarn Co.
True North Yarn Co. advertises curbside pickup on its website and via Instagram. Customers who live locally can select “free curbside pickup” at checkout, and a staff member contacts the customer when their order is ready.
Tips for running your curbside pickup
Manage curbside pickup with the right people and space
Whether it’s you or your sales staff, assigning curbside pickup management to one (or a few people) is crucial. Someone needs to be there to review and pack orders, notify customers that they’re ready for pickup, and hand off the items at the curb.
“Make a dedicated space in your retail store for pickup orders to stay organized,” says Mistakidis. “Also, use the Shopify POS app to manage and mark orders available for pickup once they’re packed and ready to go. This way, the customer gets a notification that it’s ready.”
Track inventory
If you don’t sync your online and offline inventory, curbside pickup can be a disaster. The last thing you want is to disappoint a customer who makes an order online for curbside pickup and then receives a notification that the item isn’t actually in stock.
“Our number one tip is to make sure your inventory is correct, because having a customer order a product that’s not physically in the store would be a bummer,” says Mistakidis.
Allocate a designated place where customers can wait for their order
Depending on where your store is located, you may be able to reserve a parking spot close to your store for curbside pickup. Or, if it’s not a high-traffic area, customers can line up in front of your store. The key here is to make sure the pickup location is explained and easy to find when they arrive. You also want to make sure you’re not blocking traffic.
Advertise, advertise, and advertise some more
Spending time and energy devising a curbside pickup plan won’t be worth it unless you also create a marketing and advertising strategy to build awareness for pickup availability. You can spread the word via your newsletter, social media, or website, and by including the details on your checkout page.
“Be vocal on social media about the option for curbside pickup to ensure customers know when you’re available,” says Mistakidis. “Include details that indicate pickup options on your checkout page, in your order confirmation emails, and in general marketing emails. Customers will use this service if they know it’s available.”
Should you offer curbside pickup at your retail store?
If you’re considering setting up curbside pickup order fulfillment options at your retail store, you can start by asking yourself the following questions to decide if it’s right for your business:
- Do you have the resources to offer curbside pickup? Will your staff manage it, or will it be your responsibility?
- Is there curb space or parking near your store for customers to wait while you or your staff bring out their orders?
- Are you using a POS that provides the right technology to synchronize your inventory and keep track of omnichannel orders?
If you feel confident that you can accomplish the above and successfully manage curbside pickup services, it’s worth trying it out. Giving your customers the option to shop online and pick up at the curb can help you build strong customer relationships and give your retail business an edge over your competitors.
When you’re ready to get started, try Shopify POS to provide a seamless shopping experience for your customers both in-store and online, and you’ll be all set to manage in-store pickup for online orders.
Retail curbside pickup FAQ
How does retail curbside pickup work?
The customer orders and pays for their items online or over the phone. They schedule a time for pickup and drive to the store at that time. A retail employee brings the items out to the customer’s car.
What is curbside pickup?
Curbside pickup is a service offered by some businesses that allows customers to order and pay for items online or over the phone and then pick them up at the curb outside the store.
What is the difference between in-store and curbside pickup?
In-store pickup is when you go into the store and pick up your order yourself. Curbside pickup is when you have your order brought out to your car by an employee.
What are the benefits of curbside pickup?
For customers who don’t want to wait for delivery or prefer not to pay for shipping, curbside pickup is a great alternative. After the customer completes their order online, they can drive by your storefront, warehouse, or pickup point to pick it up—and they can remain in their car the entire time. Same-day pickup helps reduce shipping costs, saves time, and is convenient.
What technology do I need for curbside pickup?
The most important thing is an online store where customers can place and pay for their order ahead of time, with a clear option to select curbside pickup at checkout. After that, you need a simple way for them to let you know they’re outside. This could be as easy as a sign with a phone number to call or text, or something more integrated, like an “I’m here” button if you have a mobile app.
