Series One – The Process of Shopping Today
Our latest blog series pulls together valuable retail statistics with series 1 focusing on how today’s customers navigate their shopping journey. Featuring some key technical retail trends which help support the whole process.
Where do many customers start their shopping process?
Latest statistics from Salesforce [1] show 87% of shoppers now begin product browsing on digital channels. Furthermore, this figure has increased by an incredible 71% from the previous year. Emphasizing a fundamental requirement for joined up channels and a true unified commerce experience.
The Marketplace Competition
Convenience really is king. Research by Salesforce [1] stated, 28% of shoppers start their product browsing journey on marketplaces such as Amazon & Ebay. An additional report by Survata [2] supports this, indicating 49% of US consumers start by looking at Amazon and 36% with a search engine. Only 15% go direct to brand or retailer.
Multichannel shoppers
It comes as no surprise that most customers are multichannel shoppers, a staggering 73% adopt multichannel methods when shopping [3]. Illustrating a unified commerce platform is the way forward if retailers wish to successfully meet their customers’ expectations,
The Impact of Social Media
With social media influences proliferating every corner of social media, Instagram alone has 2 million advertisers [4] a month showcasing their wares. It’s evident that every retailer needs to think about implementing a full social media sales and marketing strategy.
Bricks & Mortar
The experiential store has across the globe been a hotly debated retail topic. Ways of refining the instore experience is part of an ongoing discussion. What is helpful and reassuring to retailers is that according to Salesforce [1], consumers of all ages indicate that physical store purchases are their first choice. This preference spans generations with 62% of baby boomers and 59% of Generation Z stating this is as their favored option.
The Impact of the Mobile phone
Do mobile phones impact our lives and the way we interact? Yes, I hear you shout, and retail does not escape this phenomenon, whether its instore showrooming or the physical act of purchasing.
According to Think with Google5 82% of consumers consult their phones whilst in store when considering a product purchase. Forrester [6] reinforces this, stating in 2018 Smartphones were used in more than one-third of U.S. retail sales. This considers everything, from initial product research to making the actual purchase and accounts for more than $1 trillion in retail sales. Statistics like these really highlight the impact of mobile phones on retail.
1. https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2019/04/customer-retail-statistics.html
3. https://hbr.org/2017/01/a-study-of-46000-shoppers-shows-that-omnichannel-retailing-works
4. https://business.instagram.com/blog/welcoming-two-million-advertisers/
6. https://www.forrester.com/report/2018+Retail+Best+Practices+Mobile+Web/-/E-RES141594