Consumer Behavior

Survey: Nearly half of consumers leery about shopping in store

Photo by istock.com

October 7, 2020

Nearly one out of every two shoppers (48%) don't believe it's safe to shop in stores and four out of 10 (38%) won't try on clothing, accessories or even makeup in a store environment.

Those are top findings from a consumer survey conducted by Vertebrae, a web-based 3D and AR solution provider.

When it comes to online shopping, six out of 10 said they find not being able to touch or feel a product when shopping a challenge and four out of 10 want a virtual try-on option, according to a press release on the survey.

Additional findings include:
• One in three respondents reported shopping online at least daily (34%) and one in five respondents (19%) said they shop the web multiple times per day.
• The top three challenges with online shopping all relate to not being able to physically experience a product: Nearly six in 10 (59%) respondents say they are concerned about whether items will fit; 58% say they miss not being able to touch or feel products; and 56% say they didn't know whether the item that's delivered will look the same as advertised online.
• The majority of respondents say they're familiar with AR (72%), and close to four in 10 (39%) have experienced AR while shopping — nearly twice as many as in 2018.
• When asked specifically what AR experiences they'd like to see more of, more than half of respondents (54%) said they want to use AR to see items in their real-life environments.
• Nearly 4 in 10 (37%) respondents would like to use AR to virtually try on makeup or new looks — a 48% increase since 2018.

"With the pandemic continuing to impact shopping behaviors, it's clear that consumers are hungry for online experiences that help accurately gauge how items will look in real-life context," Vertebrae CEO Vince Cacace said in the release. "The ability to virtually try on accessories like sunglasses or hats is reassuring to shoppers who don't want to risk store visits — and who don't want to deal with the hassle and expense of returning items ordered online that fail to meet their needs."