Study: Half of consumers spend more with personalized experience

San Mateo, Calif. – Almost half (48%) of consumers say they purchase more from retailers that leverage shopper interests and buying behavior to personalize the customer experience across all channels.

In the seventh annual Personalization Consumer Survey commissioned by MyBuys and conducted by the e-tailing group, 53% of consumers said it’s also important that retailers recognize them as the same person across all channels and devices they use to shop.



The report also highlights that 74% of consumers ages 55 and older used their smart phones for product research in 2014, and 33% actually made a purchase on their smart phones. Consumers ages 25 to 34 were even more likely to shop on their mobile devices – 94% reported researching products on their smart phones while 74% said they’d continued on to make a purchase.



When it comes to purchasing, the majority of shoppers indicate they spend more with retailers that make website product recommendations based on browsing or buying behavior (53%) or target them with online ads based on shopping behavior (52%). Almost half say they spend more with retailers that send personalized emails (48%).



More than a third of survey respondents report getting frustrated when retailers don’t offer personalized website recommendations (39%) or send personalized email offers (38%), or take into account online purchases (37%) or in-store purchases (34%) when sending out subsequent marketing offers.



Sixty-nine percent of consumers ages 25 to 34 are comfortable sharing their information with retailers to improve their shopping experience, compared to only 46% of shoppers 55 and older. Similarly, 92% of younger shoppers, compared to 72% of 55+ shoppers, are willing to share in-store purchase data in order to receive a more personalized shopping experience.



Personalization is critical across all touchpoints, including mobile. The number of consumers who report using a mobile device to shop most of the time grew 36% from 2013 to 2014. Now 20% of consumers claim tablets as their primary online shopping tool and 18% of consumers say they mainly use smartphones to shop. Additionally, 70% of 25- to 34-year-old shoppers research products or make purchases across three or more devices, which shows how easily consumers can transition from device to device.



Furthermore, personalization doesn’t only apply to the online shopping experience. More than half of consumers (53%) say retailers who consider their in-store purchases deliver a superior shopping experience across all online channels, and 78% are willing to allow retailers to use information from their in-store purchases to provide a more personalized experience whenever they shop.