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Online shopping has reshaped how Canadians buy — but it hasn’t replaced the store. Instead, it has redefined what the store is for. In 2026, the boundary between digital and physical retail has blurred to the point where consumers expect both the convenience of ordering online and the speed of picking up in person. Buy online pick up in store — BOPIS — is no longer a novelty or an emergency workaround. It is a standard expectation baked into how people shop.
Canadian e-commerce continues to grow, with online retail accounting for an increasing share of total consumer spending each year. But with that growth comes a parallel demand: faster, more flexible fulfillment that doesn’t require waiting three days for a delivery that may or may not arrive safely. BOPIS sits at that intersection, and retailers who treat it as optional are falling behind those who treat it as infrastructure.
BOPIS — buy online pick up in store — allows customers to purchase items through a retailer’s website or app and collect them in person at a physical location, often within hours of ordering. It eliminates shipping delays, reduces delivery uncertainty, and gives shoppers control over when and where they retrieve their purchases.
An in-store BOPIS Smart Locker
Adoption has moved well past early-majority status. Global BOPIS market revenue has grown substantially in recent years and is projected to continue expanding through the latter half of this decade, driven by consumer demand for same-day or next-day availability without paying for home delivery. In North America, a significant portion of omnichannel retailers now report that BOPIS transactions represent a meaningful share of total online orders — with many shoppers actively filtering for pickup availability before completing a purchase. Convenience and speed remain the top drivers: consumers increasingly expect to place an order and have it ready for pickup within two hours or less.
Smart parcel lockers are a key enabler of BOPIS at scale. Rather than routing every pickup through a staffed service counter, retailers can direct orders to a dedicated locker bank — customers receive a pickup code by text or email and retrieve their order on their own schedule, no queue required. This reduces pressure on front-line staff, eliminates handoff errors, and makes the pickup experience consistent regardless of how busy the store is.
The case for smart lockers in a BOPIS strategy goes beyond convenience. These systems operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week — which means customers can pick up their orders before the store opens, after it closes, or on a Sunday when staffing is limited. For retailers with extended-hours locations, mixed-use properties, or high foot traffic during peak periods, that after-hours flexibility is a genuine competitive differentiator.
Smart lockers are also multi-purpose. The same system that handles BOPIS pickups can manage incoming deliveries from couriers, facilitate employee package storage, or support on-site returns — a growing priority as retailers work to simplify the reverse logistics process. In 2025 and 2026, frictionless returns have become nearly as important as fast fulfillment in driving customer loyalty and repeat purchases. A smart locker that handles both directions of that transaction reduces friction at every touchpoint.
For property managers overseeing retail-anchored mixed-use developments, adding a smart locker is also a tenant amenity that strengthens the building’s appeal to retail operators who want BOPIS capability without the infrastructure headache.
BOPIS is evolving. Curbside pickup — the most visible version of the model — is now table stakes. What’s emerging is a more sophisticated ecosystem of automated pickup infrastructure: locker banks integrated directly into store layouts, micro-fulfilment operations that use back-of-store space to stage orders for rapid retrieval, and BOPIS experiences tied to loyalty programs that personalize the pickup process.
Retailers are also connecting BOPIS more tightly with returns workflows, allowing customers to drop off a return and pick up a new order in a single trip. Smart lockers sit naturally at the centre of this evolution — they are the physical infrastructure that makes automated, scalable, staff-light pickup possible. ParcelPort’s smart locker platform is built for exactly this kind of multi-function deployment, whether in a standalone retail location, a shopping centre, or a mixed-use property.
BOPIS is not a trend retailers are watching — it is a capability they are being evaluated on. Consumers who have come to expect rapid, flexible pickup options do not lower that expectation when choosing where to shop next time. The retailers who invest in the right infrastructure now are building the loyalty that will be difficult to unseat.
Smart parcel lockers are a foundational part of that infrastructure. If you’re ready to bring automated, 24/7 BOPIS capability to your location, ParcelPort can help. Visit www.theparcelport.com, email hello@theparcelport.com, or call 1-800-818-0870 to get started.
