Motorola Solutions Survey shows 67% of shoppers agree emerging in-store technologies heighten overall satisfaction.
The latest installment of the Motorola Solutions Inc. annual Holiday Shopping Survey highlights that three in four (75% ) surveyed retail associates and managers feel they provide a better in-store customer experience when equipped with the latest mobile technologies.
In fact, shoppers echoed a similar sentiment as more than two-thirds (67%) of surveyed shoppers reported heightened satisfaction with retailers where in-store associates utilized the latest technologies to assist in the shopping experience.
The rising availability of shopping-assisted options across all shopping channels has raised customer service expectations for shoppers and retail associates. According to the survey, more than eight in 10 (83.3%) surveyed retail associates and managers believe that shoppers can easily find a better deal so customer service is more important than ever. From a shopper perspective, 33% of shopping trips ended with shoppers leaving before satisfying their intent to purchase, costing an average of $125 per trip. Of those lost opportunities, more than 73% did not complete their purchases with the original retailer.
While shopper activity and spend remains higher in-store than online, retailers need to continue to address the needs of the omni-channel shopper. Online purchases swelled by more than 18% compared to 2010 and 63% of surveyed shoppers with smartphones downloaded some type of shopping application.
Increasing online spend has created variances in satisfaction between offline and online experiences – almost 41% of shoppers were not satisfied with the ability to receive in-stock status in-store compared to 20% online. Approximately 27% of shoppers were not satisfied with the ease of finding correct prices in-store versus approximately 14% online; and 42% of shoppers were not satisfied with the check-out process in-store compared to 15% online. Online shoppers cited a much higher dissatisfaction rate (41% compared to 25%) for the return/exchange process, providing a significant advantage for in-store retailers.
Drive Trips – Retail associates and availability of desired products drive shoppers’ choice of retailers.
• 67% of shoppers cited a better experience in-store with associates and managers using the latest mobile technologies.
• 61% percent of shoppers believe that they were better connected to consumer information, including coupons, competitive pricing and product availability than store associates.
• Three in four retail associates and managers report providing a better in-store shopper experience when equipped with the latest mobile technologies.
Orchestrate Behavior – Consumer usage and interest in self-service and mobile technologies are rising in stores and via offline channels.
• The vast majority of shoppers reported that self-help technologies improved their shopping experience: 83% cited using a price checker while self-checkout payment lanes (65%) and information kiosks (59%) also were mentioned frequently.
• Almost four in ten shoppers would be likely to use a retailer’s wireless internet access to search for product information and post to the web while shopping.
• More than four in ten shoppers would likely use a store application on their smartphones that creates a map from a shopping list to guide them through the store on the most efficient route to complete their shopping.
Closing Sales – Retailers are still losing significant revenue due to inefficient payment approaches, out-of-stock occurrences and lack of selection.
• One-third of store visits ended with an average of $125 unspent due to missed opportunities to purchase driven by inefficient payment approaches, deal-habituated behavior, out-of-stocks and limited store associate assistance.
• Approximately 41% of shoppers were not satisfied with the ability to receive in-stock status in-store compared to almost 20% of online shoppers.
• 68% of lost sales could have been recaptured if a retail associate was able to order the item and have it delivered to the shopper’s home. Almost 55% of shoppers would have made their purchases if an associate could find another location that had the item in stock and told them how to get there.
• 43% of surveyed shoppers reported that the mobile point of sale (mPOS) improved their shopping experience.
