The Internet provides consumers with a great deal in the way of convenience, but there still seems to be a place for traditional brick-and-mortar.
A new report from management consulting firm A.T. Jearney reveals that consumers in the U.S. and U.K. value the retail store experience (and on multiple levels) and continue to make the vast majority of their purchases in store.
"Stores are important to consumers, but it is critical that retailers with brick-and-mortar assets understand the new role the store network plays in optimizing sales, profits, and loyalty across all channels," said Michael Brown, A.T. Kearney partner and author of the "Recasting the Retail Store in Today's Omnichannel World" noted in the study.
"Despite the dramatic shifts in consumer shopping behaviors enabled by ecommerce and mobile, very few retailers have transformed the physical shopping experience to efficiently and effectively support the new behaviors. Retailers must know how and why their customers shop and then retool and redeploy the store network accordingly."
The A.T. Kearney study found that consumers spend the majority of their time shopping in stores (61 percent), followed by online (31 percent), catalog (4 percent) and mobile (4 percent). The physical store is the channel of choice across all ages (from Millennial to senior citizens) and household income levels (from less than $25,000 per year to more than $100,000 per year) however.
The study found that 40 percent of consumers spend more money than they had planned in stores, while only 25 percent reported online impulse shopping. Strategies that drive consumers to stores whether it is to shop or pick up a product purchased online will drive impulse purchases.
