Window Shopping By Mobile – But Buying In Store
Many owners of bricks and mortar businesses feel that ecommerce and online marketing are not for them.
Yet a recent survey showed that business with both a high street and an online presence make almost 30% more in revenue.
And it's not only the level of sales but also of customer satisfaction according to a Price Waterhouse Coopers recent survey. And as all business owners know; happy customers are repeat customers and repeat sales are the easiest and lowest cost sales to make.
Established high street brands that have not paid sufficient attention to the move of their customers to the online space are finding once distant e-commerce brands not only arranging local collection points but also opening up next door to them on the high street. The online brands making use of the feedback they get in the digital world to understand what customers like and want.
In an effort to remain relevant to their customers wants, major retailers in the US are spending upward of $4 billion on ecommerce platforms, redesigns, loyalty programs and in-store technology to keep consumers connected at all times.
There remain lots of businesses that choose to stay in one niche or the other; off-line or on-line. Yet they are at risk by defying the evidence of a shift in shopping habits spreading progressively across all of society.
Customers are increasingly expecting to shop any time they want, more inclined to shop multi-channel, looking to social media for ideas and recommendations, and − particularly in emerging markets − using the phone as a major means of internet access.
Yet the data also reveals that although consumers are increasingly using mobile to browse and compare, they revert to their desktop and in-store outlets to actually purchase.
And it is in the preference of consumers to buy in store that gives local business owners the edge. Ensuring that they have an online presence to enable consumers to find their offering and then using the online presence to bring prospects quickly and easily to their door where they can convert them most easily into customers.
