Balancing Convenience and Perishability: Operational Trade-offs of Buy Online Pickup In-Store in Perishable Context

The integration of sales channels, such as Buy-Online-and-Pickup in Store (BOPS), has gained widespread adoption in the retail sector for enabling consumers to conveniently retrieve their purchases at their preferred time and location. However, its adoption in sectors involving perishable items poses distinct operational challenges, like temporal mismatch between store preparation and consumers' consumption. Therefore, our study aims to assess how BOPS influences consumer purchasing behavior in scenarios where perishability is a key consideration. We conducted an empirical investigation in the fast-food catering industry, analyzing customer transaction data from a prominent Chinese restaurant. By applying propensity score matching and a difference-indifference methodology, we found that adopting BOPS in this context led to a reduction in both the frequency and amount of consumer purchases. We also identified potential mechanisms behind these negative effects of BOPS, including the quality deterioration, prolonged waiting times, and hassle experiences inherent to the BOPS process. Moreover, our research revealed that the impact of BOPS varied across different offline store ordering modes, such as menu-driven versus tangible product-driven ordering. These findings contribute new insights to the field of omnichannel operations by underscoring the importance of accounting for perishability.