Study: Consumers desire better 'touch and feel' shopping experience

Three out of four consumers still want to visit a physical retail store when buying a communications product or service, but they are not very satisfied with their experience and rated it only slightly better than average, according to a new study from Accenture.

Accenture surveyed more than 3,000 consumers in 18 countries to find out how the physical retail channel can help communications companies build strong customer relationships. Accenture also asked consumers what they want to do in, and expect from, a provider's retail store. More than half (56 percent) of the consumers surveyed had bought a mobile phone, wireless phone service plan, or cable television service at a provider's retail store in the past year. According to the survey:

• Seventy-five percent of consumers — especially professionals and 18 to 34 year-olds — want to visit a retail store when buying communications-related products and services, and 77 percent of all consumers think it's important that a communications provider has a physical store they can visit.
• Sixty-three percent of consumers who purchased a communications product or service in the past year did so at a company-owned store.
• Seventy-seven percent of consumers said the quality of the store experience is an important factor in their decision to do business with a communications provider.
• Although more than half of consumers (59 percent) said their experience in a provider's retail store was good, 30 percent said their experience was fair or poor and only 11 percent said their experience was excellent.

When consumers were asked which store attributes are important to them, product availability in a store was most important to those surveyed (56 percent), followed by knowledgeable staff (54 percent), attitude of staff (32 percent), and speed of service (28 percent).

When consumers ranked attributes of the retail experience, 57 percent said they were satisfied with product availability; 60 percent were satisfied with store sales or service staff level of knowledge; 61 percent said they were satisfied with the attitude of staff; and 44 percent said they were satisfied with speed of service.

Nearly every respondent (97 percent) in the survey desired a consistent experience across all channels, with the ability to access the same products, services, and assistance, whether they are in a communication provider's store, phoning the company or using the company's Web site.