The newly published Global Elite Top1000 report has highlighted that while stores form a key part in the ecommerce process, understanding their role is complicated by the fickle nature of shoppers.
If we take a look at how shoppers around the world shop for fashion, we find that there’s an even split in most regions between buying mainly online, mainly instore and mainly an even split of both. But what does this tell us about the current role of stores?
More than you’d think. With the odd exception of highly digitised markets such as South Korea, shoppers are more multi-channel than might be imagined. The key is to understand that they are drawn to shop instore, online or in a combination of the two as their mood and circumstance dictates. There is no hard and fast rule… they just do whatever in a way that suits them.
Since this is wholly unpredictable, it leaves multichannel retailers struggling what to offer these fickle consumers want, without breaking the bank. The solution seems to be to offer them instore collection of goods they have bought online, since around 50% of consumers in all markets deem this important to very important. However, they may not come into stores to do this often, with data showing that across the world, shoppers do this fewer than five times each year.
The caveat is that they do… and when they do, they often buy more things instore. Couple this with those shopping instore anyway, then offering good instore experiences that blend face-to-face retail with innovations such as click and collect and showrooming, and we see that physical stores still have a vital role to play, albeit one that has shifted in the past 20 years.
This is an excerpt from the RetailX Global Elite Top1000 report, it provides a comprehensive analysis of the global ecommerce and multichannel market, offering a 360-degree view of consumer behavior, company performance, and regional economies.
Retail leaders must continue to make strategic decisions despite uncertainty. This report identifies the top five Elite retailers, Amazon, Apple, H&M, Samsung, and Walmart whose success across the Customer, Product, Operations, and Capital Value Chains sets them apart.
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