Hard to believe that the holiday shopping is already upon us. But all the Halloween displays and merchandise I saw in an upscale mall last weekend confirmed it.

As much as I’m committed to great store design, I believe all retailers can marry the best features of the virtual world with the brick-and-mortar world. This interesting article in Picture Business notes that a yearly Shop.org study finds online orders account for 31 percent of sales for retailers who have a “pick up in store” feature. And that 27 percent of those customers make additional purchases when they pick up their online orders in person.

This is a growing trend, the article says, that can benefit retailers not only at holiday time, but also year round. It’s an enormous opportunity for all retailers. If you join Shop.org, you can even get listed on their Cyber Monday web site, which lists retailers of all sizes who have buy-online, pick-up-in-store policies. It’s not cheap to join, so I recommend finding local publications or web sites that will list your store for free.

The more shoppers know that they can order from you 24/7, the more likely they’ll be to order online, then swing by for last-minute purchases regardless of holiday season. All they’ll have to worry about, the article says, is finding a parking spot. So go ahead, tell ‘em you’ll pay for parking. They’re love you even more.