A new report from retail researchers Conlumino and loyalty specialist Webloyalty has found the advent of multichannel retailing has lengthened the shopping process.
According to an article on internetretailing.net, today 40.6 percent of buyers consult channels from catalogs and websites to smartphones, tablets and stores before buying big-ticket home retail items. Contrast that figure with those from 2002, when only 10.1 percent of people consulted three channels.
Similarly, in 2002 it took shoppers an average of 5.2 days to complete a big ticket purchase, while today it takes shoppers 10.3 days, with more than half of that time spent browsing and researching ahead of the purchase.
Retail analyst Neil Saunders, of Conlumino, said in the article, "It is unsurprising that homeware, electrical and furniture purchases are considered carefully by consumers and that it takes time for items to be delivered to collected. However the length of time it takes customers to browse and research their choices — more than five days — may surprise many. Retailers need to plan carefully for how they provide greater consumer engagement throughout this process."
Read more about multichannel retailing.
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