Report: Personalization, price and fulfillment influence most omnichannel shoppers

Consumers have increasingly high expectations for a unified shopping and brand experience across all purchasing channels and touchpoints.



Retailers that can address their demand for more personalization, price, and fulfillment along the path to purchase will be the winners going forward, according to the “Consumer Trends Report — 2017 Edition,” from Kibo. The study is based on responses from more than 3,000 consumers in the United States and the United Kingdom.



As consumer preferences and demands continue to change on a dime, retailers need to personalize the path to purchase to win over shoppers. In fact, 85% of shopper said they are influenced by personalized home page promotions, and 92% said personalized shopping cart recommendations encourage them to complete a purchase.



Shoppers also expect some personalization in-store. Nearly three quarters of consumers want store associates to access their customer history when they visit a store after making an online purchase. And almost half of consumers surveyed had store associates find an item in another store for ship-to-home in the past six months, data showed.



“As consumer behaviors, expectations, and demands continue to rise, retailers and brands equipped with the latest data will be better prepared to win in the new year,” said Tushar Patel, CMO, Kibo.



Price also still remains a key factor when shoppers are considering making a purchase. Specifically, 76% of consumers regularly price-check competitors online, up from 66% from last year’s survey. In addition to price checking, 94% of shoppers are doing overall product research online before visiting a store, up 8% from last year.



Meanwhile, 81% of consumers said they have looked up inventory on a retailer’s website before visiting the store. For companies still toying with the idea of inventory visibility, consider this: 80% of shoppers are less inclined to visit a store if a website does not provide current product availability (up 24% from last year).



The true retail winners will be those that attract shoppers via interactive content (92%), product reviews (82%), simplified shopping carts (78%), and multiple fulfillment options (66%).



“In order to satisfy consumers with high expectations of a cohesive experience no matter the touchpoint, merchants need to do a holistic evaluation of their commerce programs,” Patel said. “Knowing where to focus efforts will allow them to make changes that provide the biggest impact to customer satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately the bottom line.”