While the buy-online/in-store pickup process is improving, few merchants are truly leveraging the opportunity to either build relationships with consumers or bring in incremental sales, according to a new study by the etailing group, writes DM News (via MediaBuyerPlanner). According to the study, "Buy Online/In-Store Pick-Up Process," merchandise was ready for customer pickup 87 percent of the time, versus 75 percent of the time last year.

Last year, 88 percent of merchants provided free shipping to the store, but 90 percent are offering free shipping this year.

Interestingly, while customers were notified by email that a product was ready for pickup 73 percent of the time, only 13 percent of those emails contained the store's hours, 60 percent listed the store's phone number and 73 percent provided store location and contact information.