Despite online shopping, physical stores still relevant

However, more shoppers expect the length of time they have to wait for free delivery to be reduced. In Accenture’s 2012 study, just 25 percent of respondents said they expected a free-delivery purchase to arrive within one to five days. In the latest survey, that number jumped to 44 percent.

 

Retailers Still Need More Seamless Operations

 

The Accenture study found that a growing number of shoppers expect a retailer’s product offerings tobe the same across different shopping channels – 51 percent in 2013 compared to 43 percent in 2012. More than half (57 percent) also expect promotions to be the same across channels and 69 percent expect prices to be the same. However, the survey results indicate that many retailers are not providing a seamless customer experience in some key areas. When asked about the seamless experience at their favorite retailers, only 31 percent of shoppers said that their customer accounts were completely connected across in-store and online channels, and just 32 percent said that they were able to earn and use loyalty points across multiple channels. In addition, the proportion of shoppers who believe they will secure a better price online rose from 21 percent to 31 percent.

 

“Delivering a seamless experience across all retail touch points remains both a key challenge and prime opportunity for retailers today,” said Donnelly. “Those retailers able to integrate the physical store with the rest of their digital capabilities, and who also use analytics to support new models of customer engagement and personalized service, can gain a true competitive advantage.”

 

Importance of Convenience from Online and Mobile Shopping Falls

 

Although convenience is still the biggest driver for shopping online or with a mobile phone, respondents ranked this as less important in the latest survey, compared to 2012 – falling to 54 percent from 62 percent in the previous year. And more shoppers (43 percent) find purchasing with their mobile phones easy, compared to 23 percent in 2012.

 

Methodology

 

Accenture conducted an online survey of 750 U.S. consumers to understand consumer preferences to shop seamlessly across channels and the ability of retailers to deliver that seamless experience. For an insight into the key global trends please visit Accenture Seamless Retail Survey.