The Fitch 2012 Joy of Shopping study reveals that 54% of shoppers prefer to do their shopping in brick-and-mortar stores over any other channel. 50% of respondents to the global survey indicated that they prefer to shop on the web. Both channels rate significantly higher than mobile app shopping (13%) and social media shopping (7%).
However, there are some regional differences in consumers’ preferred shopping channels. Internet shopping is far more popular in emerging markets like China and Brazil than it is in mature markets. Furthermore, while the Chinese are the happiest and most enthusiastic shoppers (55%), Brits are the most unhappy shoppers in the world. Only 21% of British respondents to the Fitch survey claimed that they enjoy shopping.
Differences were also found in enthusiasm levels for specific categories. For example, the highest levels of enthusiasm were found in the electronics category where 83% of respondents overall are either very enthusiastic about shopping for electronics products (43%) or at least enjoy the electronics shopping experience (40%). Fashion is another category that consumers enjoy shopping for. 89.3% of respondents to the Fitch survey overall claimed they were very enthusiastic about shopping for fashion products (37.4%) or at least enjoy shopping in the fashion category (51.9%). Grocery shopping ranks a bit lower with 85.3% of respondents overall stating they are very enthusiastic about shopping for groceries (39.0%) or at least they enjoy grocery shopping (46.3%).
Fitch offers some suggestions for increasing retail shopping satisfaction and enthusiasm levels to help businesses succeed in the future:
- Don’t underestimate your customers’ enthusiasm for shopping and going to stores.
- Rethink how you define and measure success and deliver shopping experiences that lead to happier customers.
- Play to new differentiators by appealing to consumers’ exploring and dreaming mindsets rather than just the locating mindset that often happens after the purchase decision has been made.
- Don’t think off- or online. Think seamless.
You can read the complete report here.
Image: pipp
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
