Going beyond shopping: shopping as an all-encompassing route

Marketing professionals understandably tend to be obsessed with purchasing. Although they are aware that the actual sale is achieved through a whole process, purchases are the tangible result of their work and the activity that increases revenue. That’s why many focus primarily on where they make those purchases – online or in-store.

This is an important data point. So far people have preferred to buy certain items online and others in physical stores. But the truth is that today’s buyers prefer to browse and search online, even if they intend to buy in a store. In fact, 83% of U.S. shoppers who visited a store during the past week said they first used the online search.¹ If you also consider videos and apps, shoppers who claim to have used online resources become 93%.²

Growth in all categories

Not long ago, buying clothing or footwear online seemed a strange thing. How could you buy something without trying it on? Today, clothing is a true all-encompassing retail category. In fact, 70% of shoppers say they buy clothing both in store and online, while 23% say they buy exclusively online.³

Of course, there are still many categories that are mostly purchased in store, such as household items such as cleaning products, personal care items, cosmetics or appliances. As far as food is concerned, 77% of people say they only buy it in-store.4 But this shows that even for these categories where you traditionally buy offline, online shopping is on the rise.

The percentage of shoppers who bought sports items online grew by more than 75% in the first three quarters of last year, a significant increase over the previous six months. Over the same period, there was also a significant overall increase for the online category of large appliances: almost 28%. Even food products increased by 19% for the online category.⁵

A better experience

Overall, 68% of people say they want to make more online purchases next year.⁶

The reason is quite simple. Many people say that the online shopping experience is better than the in-store experience when analysing specific aspects:

• Better navigation: 66% of shoppers say they prefer online shopping to find the items they are looking for, compared to 27% who say they prefer offline searches.
• More tips and tricks: 59% of people say they look for online tips and tricks on what to buy, compared to 28% who prefer to go offline.
• Best prices: 59% of people say they prefer to shop online to find the ideal offer, which seems to be the most appreciated factor by shoppers.⁷

In other words, people think that online shopping makes it easier to find the right item at the right price.

The importance of an all-encompassing approach

Although online shopping is on the rise for all categories, there are also those who continue to actively shop offline. When it comes to categories such as movies, books and video games, 68% of people say they buy both in-store and online. For toys, 66%, and for consumer electronics, 64%.

Ultimately, people try to meet their needs as efficiently as possible, whether it’s buying online only or searching online before going to the store. Whatever your category, make sure your in-store and online experiences are

• Integrate: when you can, share the inventory of local stores on your site and through search.
• Quick: speed on desktop computers and mobile devices is at least as important as in-store speed.
• Useful: optimizes search functions to allow people to find exactly what they are looking for and easily resume from where they left off.

If you can follow these steps to really offer an all-encompassing experience, you will get satisfactory results.

Pubblicato il 28 August 2019