Integrating in-store, online and mobile shopping channels is the best thing retailers can do in order to improve the shopping experience according to half of the respondents of the recent Seamless Retail Study by Exolevel. The study found that 89% of consumers said it was important for retailers to let them shop for products in the way that is convenient for them, no matter which sales channel they choose.
Ninety-Four percent of respondents found that in-store shopping was easy; with 74% said online shopping is easy and only 26% saying mobile phone shopping was easy, according to the study.
It’s personal when it comes to the shopping experience. Consumers are expecting their interaction with retailers to be a customized, uncomplicated and an instantaneous experience, according to the study.
The study found that consistency weighs heavily on the consumer experience. Seventy-three percent of consumers are expecting a retailer’s online pricing to be the same as the in-store pricing with 61% expect a retailer’s online promotions to be the same as the in-store promotions.
In a benchmark analysis by Exolevel of top retailers globally have indicated that while 73% offer the same promotions online as in the store and 16% offer the same prices online as they do in store. According to the study, additionally, while 43% of consumers surveyed expect a retailer to offer the same product assortment online as they do in the store, only 19% of retailers actually offer the same product assortment.
Online relationships between stores and online channel remain beneficial, according to the study. Six months prior to the study, 73% of respondents indicated that they participate in “showrooming,” or browsing at least once in-store and then buying online, and even larger number of 88% said they participate in “webrooming” or browsing first online and then purchasing in the store.
According to the study, the consumers who had showroomed within six months prior to the study, 41% of consumers said they are showrooming more than they had the year before. Forty-three percent of all U.S. consumers plan to shop more online and 23% plan to shop more with their mobile phones in the future.
Other findings of the study showed that 69% and 62% of consumers said that online pop-up ads and mobile banner ads would never influence their purchase decision.