Project Brief
Senior leadership noticed key competitors growing their Buy-Online-Pickup-In-Store (BOPIS) service while Bass Pro's own solution stalled, drawing negative feedback both online and in-store. Leadership commissioned a two-week rapid research sprint to evaluate the current solution, identify friction points and gaps, and develop recommendations.
Research Goals
- Understand the current customer journey for BOPIS users, identifying key pain points and drop-off moments from online purchase through in-store pickup
- Evaluate competitive BOPIS offerings to identify features and service elements customers perceive as superior
- Investigate customer expectations for timing, notifications, and in-store pickup, to establish clear metrics for improvement
My Role
- Gathered requirements directly from senior product leadership
- Collaborated with the data team to extract current BOPIS performance data
- Conducted hands-on field research at 6 competing retailers
- Ran secondary research on customer sentiment and peer BOPIS services
- Facilitated synthesis workshops with design partners
- Built a service blueprint of Bass Pro's current solution and its friction points, plus a future-state version
- Presented findings directly to senior leadership as data came in
Methodology
Field research: I selected 6 retailers within 5 miles of my office that offered a BOPIS solution, purchased an item online from each, and picked it up in person, timing every step of the process along the way.
Survey: Distributed to Bass Pro customers and to people who use BOPIS services at least once a month across a variety of retailers.
Key Findings
The single biggest friction point was analog: staff had to physically answer a phone line when customers arrived for curbside pickup, while every one of the 5 peer retailers studied used a fully automated system with prompts and notifications.
Target rated highest among peers for both ease of use and the ability to make pickup changes directly in-app, with no phone call required.
60% of peer retailers used dedicated staff to carry products directly out to the customer's vehicle, rather than requiring the customer to come inside.
Final Deliverable
I built a detailed service blueprint mapping every customer touchpoint in Bass Pro's current BOPIS solution alongside its known friction points, plus a future-state blueprint showing the reduced number of steps an automated system would require. Bass Pro has since implemented an automated system to improve the omni-channel pickup experience.
Current-State: In-Store Pickup
Customer journey
Browses items
Selects store
Buys & selects pickup
Gets "ready" alert
Arrives, calls posted phone line
Receives order
Frontstage: Employee
N/A
N/A
N/A
Prepares order
Answers phone, locates order
Hands off order
Frontstage: Tech
App browsing
Store locator
Payment processing
Push notification
No system support
N/A
Backstage
N/A
N/A
N/A
Pick & stage order
Retrieve staged order
Log completion
Support process
N/A
N/A
N/A
Inventory update
N/A
Order closed
Recreated diagram: the "Arrive on-site" column is where the phone-line friction lived.
Future-State: In-Store Pickup
Customer journey
Browses items
Selects store
Buys & selects pickup
Gets "ready" alert
Taps "I'm here" in app
Receives order
Frontstage: Employee
N/A
N/A
N/A
Prepares order
Auto-notified, brings order out
Hands off order
Frontstage: Tech
App browsing
Store locator
Payment processing
Push notification
Geofenced arrival trigger
N/A
Backstage
N/A
N/A
N/A
Pick & stage order
N/A
Log completion
Support process
N/A
N/A
N/A
Inventory update
N/A
Order closed
Recreated diagram: the phone call and manual retrieval step are replaced by one automated trigger.