News

Study: Consumers want a seamless shopping experience

April 15, 2013

New research from Accenture's Seamless Retail Study found that as online shopping continues to grow as a consumer preference, there is a mutually beneficial relationship between stores and online channels.

For example, while in the six months prior to the survey, 73 percent of respondents indicated that they participated in the practice of showrooming, an even larger number — 88 percent — said they participated in webrooming, or browsing first on the Internet then buying in-store.

Of the consumers who had showroomed in the six months prior to the survey, 41 percent said they are doing that more than they were the year before. Additionally, the survey found that 43 percent of all U.S. consumers plan to shop more online and 23 percent plan to shop more with their mobile phones in the future.

"Stores remain a crucial asset by which traditional players can differentiate themselves from the online pure-play retailers," said Chris Donnelly, global managing director of Accenture's Retail practice. "They can serve as a showcase for desirable brands and places where customers can enjoy an experience and social interactions."

The study also found that half (49 percent) of consumers believe the best thing retailers can do to improve the shopping experience is to better integrate in-store, online and mobile shopping channels.

Consumers remain confident on the in-store shopping experience: Almost all survey participants (94 percent) found in-store shopping easy. They are less bullish, however, about their experience with other shopping channels: 74 percent said online shopping is easy, but only one-quarter (26 percent) found the mobile phone shopping experience easy, according to the survey report.

"Seamlessness is a tall order for most traditional retailers," said Donnelly. "Traditional retailers must take stock of their operational capabilities. They require a presence at every stage of the customer journey to deliver a consistently personalized, on-brand experience from discovery through research, purchase, fulfillment and beyond to product maintenance or returns."

The survey also highlighted the following findings:

• After purchasing, 81 percent said it is important for a retailer to enable them to pick up or arrange for delivery of their purchase regardless of how they paid for the item.
• One-quarter (25 percent) of survey respondents said they would be willing to wait a whole two weeks for free shipping.
• Other consumers are willing to pay for speed and convenience: 24 percent said it is important for retailers to offer same-day delivery, including 30 percent who are willing to pay $5-$10 and 19 percent who are willing to pay $11-$20 for same-day delivery.
• The ability to offer a range of different fulfillment capabilities is something offered by just over half (56 percent) of retailers; however, only one quarter (26 percent) have a same-day delivery capability.
• When respondents were asked what they would do if a retailer has a product they want but it was outside normal business hours, 39 percent said they would wait until the morning for the store to open to purchase, 36 percent would buy it online from that retailer, 22 percent would search for the best price and buy the product somewhere online.
• 49 percent surveyed are influenced by in-store offers (via promotional displays, salespeople, etc.), 56 percent are influenced by email coupons and offers and an equal amount of respondents say they are influenced by coupons mailed to their home.
• 69 percent and 62 percent respectively said that online pop-up ads and mobile banner ads would never influence their purchasing.

Read more about multichannel retailing.