Yes, we know that many consumers now shop at multiple formats. The challenge is to make their experiences as seamless as possible.

A new study by IBM offers some valuable insights: 

“Many retailers today consider themselves omni-channel, with the intent to provide seamless online and in-store consumer shopping experiences. Yet, many are struggling with uneven channel growth and consistency, allowing those competitors with truly differentiated offerings to race ahead. How can these retailers get – or recapture – their edge and capitalize on the growing consumer trend to use multiple channels to shop and purchase? To find out, the IBM Institute for Business Value surveyed 26,000 shoppers in 14 countries, across a range of non-grocery retail categories, to learn a how consumers perceive and interact with retail channels.”

“Three important trends were revealed by this research: (1) Among retail channels, the store still reigns supreme. But cracks are beginning to appear in the dominance of brick and mortar. (2) Another indicator of store softness revealed by our research was the emergence of a small but influential group of consumers who shopped in the store but purchased online (showroomers) – sometimes from a different retailer. (3) There is a high wall to scale to excite shoppers and keep them in a retailer’s own combination of store and online offerings. Most consumers want to help retailers do so. The heavy lifting, however, is the job of the retailer, and many are coming up short.” 

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