Multichannel Consumers Favor Online-To-Store Shopping Experience

Consumers who use more than one channel when shopping for goods overwhelmingly prefer to move from online to brick-and-mortar locations, according to a new study from IBM.

According to the study, 75% prefer to move from clicks to bricks when shopping, while 7% reverse the direction, looking at items in person before buying them online. Three percent look online before engaging a contact center. These figures held regardless of whether shoppers were based in the United States or the United Kingdom.

But while the online-to-contact center crowd may be small, it’s valuable. This group spends the most when making purchases, at least among U.S. based consumers. Within the U.K., the big spenders were those who moved from online to mobile channels.

While a study overview didn’t hazard any guesses for the reasons behind these observations, the latter points may reflect the higher wealth among those engaged with multiple electronic channels.

According to the study, multi-channel shoppers were most likely to make purchases within the apparel, accessories and footwear; home improvement/do-it-yourself; and appliances categories. Within the U.S., the apparel/accessories/footwear and groceries categories had the highest number of impulse purchase decisions per basket, while within the U.K. the grocery category was responsible for the highest number of impulse purchases.

Additionally, between 46%-50% of shoppers in both the U.S. and U.K. have switched loyalty to retailers as they shopped across different channels.

The IBM report cited Forrester research figures indicating nearly 40% of retail sales will be influenced by the Web and multiple channels by 2012.