multichannel retail survey
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Multichannel Retail Survey
Multichannel Retail Survey
Econsultancy London
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Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2012
Published September 2012
Multichannel Retail Survey
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Contents
1. About Econsultancy ......................................................... 1
2. Executive Summary ......................................................... 2
2.1. Methodology ................................................................................ 2
3. Findings ........................................................................... 3
3.1. Profile of respondents ................................................................. 3
3.2. Consumer demand for multichannel retail ................................ 4
3.3. Researching purchases online .................................................... 6
3.4. Use of reserve and collect services .............................................. 7
3.5. Response to a store not stocking a product ................................ 9
3.6. Checking products offline before buying online ....................... 11
3.7. Use of mobile .............................................................................. 12
3.7.1. Use of mobile phones for shopping ....................................... 12
3.7.2. Mobile websites versus apps .................................................. 14
3.7.3. Store location and opening times .......................................... 15
3.7.4. Price comparisons and product reviews ................................ 16
3.8. Multichannel returns .................................................................18
3.9. Use of catalogues ........................................................................ 19
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 1
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1. About Econsultancy Econsultancy is a global independent community-based publisher, focused on best practice digital marketing and e-commerce, and used by over 400,000 internet professionals every month.
Our hub has 130,000+ members worldwide from clients, agencies and suppliers alike with over 90% member retention rate. We help our members build their internal capabilities via a combination of research reports and how-to guides, training and development, consultancy, face-to-face conferences, forums and professional networking.
For the last ten years, our resources have helped members learn, make better decisions, build business cases, find the best suppliers, accelerate their careers and lead the way in best practice and innovation.
Econsultancy has offices in London, New York, Singapore, Sydney and Dubai and we are a leading provider of digital marketing training and consultancy. We are providing consultancy and custom training in the Middle East, and extensively across Europe and Asia. We trained over 5,000 marketers and ran over 200 public training courses in 2011.
Join Econsultancy today to learn what’s happening in digital marketing – and what works.
Call us to find out more on +44 (0)20 7269 1450 (London) or +1 212 971 0630 (New York). You can also contact us online.
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 2
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2. Executive Summary This report about multichannel retail is based on a TolunaQuick survey of 1,000 consumers in
the UK and 1,000 consumers in the US, carried out by Econsultancy in August 2012.
The results of the survey are compared, where relevant, to the results of a similar survey carried
out by Econsultancy in 2011. The findings of the research can be summarised as follows:
The demand for multichannel retail is high in the UK and US, with 87% and 85% of
respondents in the UK and US respectively sometimes or always seeing the ability to purchase
from a retailer from different channels as important. The younger the respondent, the more likely
they are to see multichannel retail as very important.
More than 90% of respondents in both the UK and US use the internet to research
purchases before buying from a local store, highlighting the importance of positive
customer reviews and an informative website with good usability.
The latter statistic is being capitalised upon by those retailers using reserve and collect
services. Large multichannel retailers in the UK, such as Argos, have seen these services account
for a high proportion of their sales, and this survey shows that the number of respondents using
the service in the UK is much larger than in the US. Collectively, 80% of UK respondents
reserve products online, whereas only 55% of US respondents do the same.
Survey respondents were also asked if they check products in store before buying online. More
than 60% of respondents in both countries do this, possibly to take advantage of online offers or
home delivery.
A significant and emerging retail channel is mobile, and the survey asked respondents a
number of questions about their use of mobile when shopping. Although the majority of
respondents have not made a purchase using their mobile, the proportion having done so has
doubled since the 2011 survey (from 13% to 25% in the UK, and 12% to 28% in the US). Again, it is
the younger age groups who are most likely to use their mobiles for this information.
The vast majority of respondents expect to be able to return items bought online to a
local store, and the survey also found that the use of catalogues before an online or offline
purchase is still prevalent, with just over 50% of respondents having done this in the past 12
months.
2.1. Methodology Approximately 1,000 respondents in the UK and 1,000 respondents in the US took part in an
online survey1 in July and August 2012.
1 Online survey carried out using TolunaQuick
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 3
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3. Findings
3.1. Profile of respondents One thousand people responded to the survey in both the UK and the US. Females made up 62%
of the respondents, and males 38%.
Figure 1: Gender of respondents (UK and US combined)
Respondents: 2,000
The majority of respondents (41%) fell into the 35 – 54 age bracket, while 28% were aged 55+ and
the remainder (31%) aged 18 – 34 years old.
Figure 2: Age of respondents (UK and US combined)
Respondents: 2,000
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 4
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3.2. Consumer demand for multichannel retail In an age of multichannel marketing and multiple retail channels, the ability for consumers to
purchase products from channels other than in-store is ever increasing. Survey respondents were
asked if this ability was important to them, with the three options in Figure 3 available.
In both the UK and the US, almost half of respondents did not feel strongly about the issue; 47%
in the UK and 46% in the US felt that it would be ‘useful sometimes’, but not crucial. Only 14% of
UK respondents and 15% of US respondents felt the ability to purchase from different channels
‘didn’t matter’.
Figure 3: How important is it to be able to purchase from a retailer from different channels e.g. in a store, by mobile, online?
Respondents: UK 999, US 1,000
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 5
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When cross-tabulated by age of respondent, there is a trend showing that the younger the
respondent, the more likely they were to see the ability to purchase from a retailer from different
channels as very important. In both the UK and US, 53% and 45% (respectively) of 18 -34 year
olds thought the issue in question was very important, whereas only 28% and 29% of respondents
aged 55+ agreed.
Figure 4: How important is it to be able to purchase from a retailer from different
channels e.g. in a store, by mobile, online? (by age)
Respondents: (18 – 34) 319, (35 – 54) 827, (55+) 553
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 6
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3.3. Researching purchases online It has been well documented that customer reviews influence sales2. According to Reevoo, reviews
produce an average of 18% in sales uplift, and 63% of customers are more likely to make a
purchase from a site which has user reviews3. In this survey, respondents were asked if they
research purchases online before buying from a local store. The vast majority of respondents
sometimes or always research purchases before buying. Only 4% and 6% in the UK and US
respectively never use the internet before an offline purchase.
Figure 5: Do you research purchases on the internet before buying from a local
store?
Respondents: UK 1,000, US 1,000
2 http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/9366-e-commerce-consumer-reviews-why-you-need-them-and-how-to-use-them/ 3 http://www.iperceptions.com/our-research/
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 7
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3.4. Use of reserve and collect services Large multichannel retailers in the UK have successfully been using reserve and collect services to
increase sales, notably Argos’ “Check and Reserve” service, which accounted for 29% of Argos’
£819m sales in Q1 2012. However, a recent survey by Ivis Group4 found that fewer than 50% of
the UK’s top 50 retailers currently offer a click and collect service, and less than a quarter of these
extend this service to mobile.
Figure 6 shows that there are visible differences between results from the UK and the US,
suggesting that UK retailers are adopting the service more readily than the US. The majority of
UK respondents (60%) said that they have reserved products online before collecting them in
store in the last 12 months, whereas only 38% of US participants responded in this way, and most
respondents (46%) have never used a reserve and collect service. Only 20% and 17% of
respondents in the UK and US respectively use these services regularly.
Figure 7 shows the results from the same question in the 2011 survey, which revealed the same
trend of UK customers being more likely to reserve items for in-store collection. Collectively, 80%
of UK respondents reserve products online (up from 74% in 2011), whereas only 55% of US
respondents (up from 42% in 2011) do the same.
Figure 6: Do you reserve products online before collecting them in store? How
often?
Respondents: UK 999, US 1,000
4 http://www.ivisgroup.com/
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 8
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Figure 7: Do you reserve products online before collecting them in store? How
often? (2011 results for comparison)
Respondents: UK 2,000, US 2,000
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 9
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3.5. Response to a store not stocking a product Respondents were asked for their reaction to a store not stocking the product they were looking
for, which revealed that people were most likely to remain offline and look for the product at
another local store if this occurred, followed by searching online when they get home. Figure 8
shows that few consumers would turn to their mobile in this situation, and that trends are similar
across UK and US consumers.
Figure 8: If the store doesn’t have the product you are looking for, which of the
following would you do?
Respondents: UK 998, US 2,000
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 10
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The trends shown in Figure 8 are noticeably different from the results of the 2011 survey, shown
in Figure 9. Respondents in 2011 were more likely to search for a product online when they got
home if the store didn’t have the product, above looking for the product at another store. This
could be seen as somewhat surprising, suggesting that the tendency of respondents to use the
internet to find products has decreased since the last survey.
Figure 9: If the store doesn’t have the product you are looking for, which of the
following would you do? (2011 results charted for comparison)
Respondents: UK 2,000, US 2,000
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 11
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3.6. Checking products offline before buying online The majority of respondents check products in store before buying online, with the results being
very similar for both US and UK respondents.
Figure 10: Do you check products in store before buying online?
Respondents: UK 999, US 998
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 12
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3.7. Use of mobile
3.7.1. Use of mobile phones for shopping
M-commerce is widely reported to be increasing rapidly, exemplified by the difference in Figures
11 and 12, which show the proportion of respondents who have used their mobile to make a
purchase in 2012 and 2011 respectively. In the UK, the number responding that they have has
almost doubled from 13% in 2011 to 25% in 2012. Likewise in the US, those responding “yes” have
gone up by 16%. Although the majority of respondents have never made a purchase using their
mobile, it could be expected that with the number of smartphones increasing and the perceived
safety of m-commerce improving, the proportion of people using their mobiles to make purchases
will continue to grow.
Figure 11: Have you made a purchase using your mobile?
Respondents: UK 999, US 999
Figure 12: Have you made a purchase using your mobile? (2011 results for comparison)
Respondents: UK 2,000, US 2,000
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 13
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Compared to the age of the respondents, it is clear that the younger the respondent, the more
likely there are to have used their mobile to make a purchase, both in the UK and the US. This is
likely to be due to the share of smartphone audience being disproportionately represented by 25 –
34 year olds5.
Figure 13: Have you made a purchase using your mobile (results charted by age group)
Respondents: (18 – 34) 619, (35 – 54) 826, (55+) 553
5www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2012/6/Majority_of_Tablet_Users_Watch_Video_on_their_Device
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 14
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3.7.2. Mobile websites versus apps
Mobile websites are still dominant over apps when shopping on a mobile device according to the
respondents of the survey. In the UK, 68% of consumers surveyed would prefer to use a mobile
website, compared to 33% of respondents who would prefer an app. Results were similar in the
US, where slightly more respondents would prefer to use an app.
Figure 14: Do you prefer to use a mobile website or an app?
Respondents: UK 1000, US 1000
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 15
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3.7.3. Store location and opening times
The use of mobile as an offline shopping aid represents an increasing challenge for retailers
wanting to capitalise on the number of consumers who now have smartphones, and therefore
have access to a wealth of retailer and product information while shopping offline. Although those
using their mobile to find more information on retailers’ stores are still in the minority, the
proportion doing so has increased since the 2011 survey; in the UK from 25% to 32%, and in the
US from 27% to 41%.
Figure 15: Have you used your mobile to find a retailer’s nearest store, opening
times etc?
Respondents: UK 999, US 999
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 16
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3.7.4. Price comparisons and product reviews
Another example of consumers using mobile as an offline shopping aid, comparing prices and
looking at reviews of products while shopping offline is clearly on the increase according the
results of the 2011 and 2012 surveys. In the UK, the proportion of respondents using their mobile
in this way has gone up by almost a quarter, from 19% to 43%. Similarly, in the US those
responding yes have increased even further; from 20% to 50%.
Figure 16: Have you used your mobile to compare prices and look at product
reviews while out shopping?
Respondents: UK 998, US 999
Figure 17: Have you used your mobile to compare prices and look at product
reviews while out shopping? (2011 results for comparison)
Respondents: UK 2,000, US 2,000
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 17
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Again, it is the younger age groups who are most likely to use their mobile to compare prices and
look at product reviews while shopping offline.
Figure 18: Have you used your mobile to compare prices and look at product reviews while out shopping? (2012 results charted by age)
Respondents: (18 – 34) 319, (35 – 54) 826, (55+) 553
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 18
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3.8. Multichannel returns The vast majority of both US and UK respondents expect to be able to return items bought online
to a local store. This proportion was similarly high in the 2011 survey. However, a report by Snow
Valley6 in the same year found that just half of the multichannel retailers studied actually allow
customers to do this. It may be that the respondents of this survey would ideally like to be able to
return an online-bought item through an offline channel, but may not in reality expect to be able
to do this.
Figure 19: If you buy something online from a retailer do you expect to be able to
return it to a local store?
Respondents: UK 1000, US 1000
6 http://blog.micros-ecommerce.com/snow-valley-e-commerce-reports/
Multichannel Retail Survey 2012 Page 19
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3.9. Use of catalogues The use of catalogues before an online or offline purchase is still prevalent in the UK and US, with
the majority of respondents in the UK (56%) and US (51%) having used catalogues at least once in
the past year before a purchase.
Figure 20: How often do you use catalogues before buying online or in store?
Respondents: UK 1,000, US 1,000