Jul 3, 2012 - An important part of today's consumer's shopping experience is the integration of touchpoints over a varie
Retail Integration: Survey Findings Info Retail | 07.03.2012
An important part of today’s consumer’s shopping experience is the integration of touchpoints over a variety of different media and information sources. Our Retail Integration Survey asked questions to track consumer behavior from in the store to the web and everything in between. We gathered responses from two different age groups—between 18 and 34, and 35 and over—with a sample size of just over 100 for each group. What follows is a summary of some of the interesting findings, a snapshot of the current consumer experience.
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Technology as an information source is more popular among younger consumers. Respondents were asked which information sources they used to shop for products and services in the last six months. The choices included traditional advertising media such as newspaper, television commercials, and radio ads; social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest; direct product information such as packaging and brochures; and also retail stores, the web, and mobile devices. The chart to the right illustrates age group differences for the most popular information sources. Note the striking difference between the older and younger consumers for “Facebook” (the most popular social media platform, according to our survey) and “Mobile.” 54% of all 18-34 year olds surveyed have used Facebook as an information source in shopping, compared to only 15% of those 35 and older. Similarly, we see 35% versus 12% for mobile devices. We also see more younger consumers using the web versus older consumers, though it is not so striking a difference. This suggests that older consumers are getting on board with e-commerce, but are perhaps slower adopters for newer technologies.
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Older consumers are more likely to find information in stores, though retail locations as an information source is strong in both groups. An impressive 70% of older consumers reported having used in-store information for their shopping decisions in the past six months, the highest of any of the information sources. A lesser 64% of younger consumers reported having used in-store resources. Looking again at the first chart, note as well the difference between “store” and “web” as information sources. The 70% of all older consumers reporting using stores is significantly more than the 50% using the web. However, rather than seeing more younger consumers using the web than stores, we see that they simply use both: basically the same percentage of all younger consumers reporting these (64% versus 65%).
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The biggest gap between older and younger consumers is in technology use. If we consolidate all of the possible responses into general categories, we can compare more broadly the two age groups. The categories are Advertisements (TV commercials, magazine ads, etc.); Direct Product (brochures, packaging, etc.); In-Store (store and store associates); and Technology (web, mobile, and social media sites).
The figure to the right shows the total number of responses for each age group of information sources in these general categories, meant to illustrate not differences between information sources but between age groups. Though the differences for other sources are negligible, the difference between uses of technologies is extreme: 197 total responses versus 97 total responses. 4
Younger consumers significantly outpace older consumers with social media use, and Facebook is king. Specifically with respect to social media, we find an even larger gap in use between younger and older consumers, as illustrated by the figure on the left. The 18 to 34 age group not only uses Facebook significantly more than the other group, but every other social technology we asked about as well. Additionally, with 64% of younger consumers versus 17% on Twitter, Facebook is also outpacing other social media for shopping information as well. Retail Integration Survey Findings | © 2012 Info Retail, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Consumers have generally good experiences with touchpoint integration. For each of the information sources, we also asked respondents to rate on a 5-point scale (from “seamless” to “bad”) the overall integration of touchpoints. The highest rating would indicate that it felt like one continuous experience, with the consumer finding all the information he or she needed. The vast majority of respondents rated every category as the highest (“seamless”) or second-to-highest (“good”). A “good” rating suggested that there was some adjustment involved, but they were able to find what they needed. Not a single category had more than 10% of respondents rating anything below these two top levels, and ratings of “troubles” or “bad” were entirely negligible.
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Older consumers have better experiences with touchpoint integration… or younger consumers have higher standards. Between the two most common ratings, “seamless” and “good,” there was a clear difference between the ratings of older and younger consumers. In nearly every case, more older consumers gave the highest rating than the second-to-highest, and vice-versa for the younger consumers. This same pattern held even across media where we saw differences in adoption, though only consumers who actually use the different information sources were rating. For example, for “web,” 49% of older consumers who used it rated it “seamless” and 40% good. For younger consumers, 40% rated “seamless” and 50% “good.” For “store,” 50% and 39% for older consumers, and 35% and 53% for younger consumers. On their surface, these results would suggest that older consumers are having better experiences with touchpoint integration. However, it is just as likely that younger consumers simply have higher expectations.
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The web and retail locations provide the most valuable information to consumers of any age. We asked respondents to think about a recent shopping experience for a brand of their choice, in which they interacted with more than one media before making a purchasing decision. Respondents then rated how valuable the information was that they obtained from the same previous list of information sources.
Retail Integration Survey Findings | © 2012 Info Retail, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Retail Integration Survey Findings
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The figure below shows trends in these total ratings (among all respondents) on a 5-point scale from “not valuable” to “valuable” for categories of information sources. There were not major differences between the two age groups, so this is representative. Of all of the information sources listed, “web” and “store” had the most striking skews towards valuable information. This is in contrast to traditional media ads such as television commercials, though they represent a large number of total sources used, respondents by and large did not find the information obtained valuable. Additionally, information from social media shows a fairly flat trend, with some respondents finding it valuable and some not valuable.
SUMMARY We asked respondents as well to rate their satisfaction with their purchasing experience, and unsurprisingly given the trends in these results, found a vast majority of high and very high satisfaction. The meat of these findings is in the age group differences, suggesting that, yes, consumer shopping behavior does differ across demographics, and shopping experiences could possibly be tailored to reflect these patterns. We see as well that though technology is where the age gap lies, both the web and retail stores are important for all ages of consumer.
Our major findings: 1. Technology as an information source is more popular among younger consumers. 2. Older consumers are more likely to find information in stores, though retail locations as an information source is strong in both groups. 3. The biggest gap between older and younger consumers is in technology use. 4. Younger consumers significantly outpace older consumers with social media use, and Facebook is king. 5. Consumers have generally good experiences with touchpoint integration. 6. Older consumers have better experiences with touchpoint integration… or younger consumers have higher standards. 7. The web and retail locations provide the most valuable information to consumers of any age.
Retail Integration Survey Findings | © 2012 Info Retail, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
