PwC’s Annual Global Total Retail Consumer Survey is in, and the results are quite interesting. Grocery topped the charts as the category with the highest sales on mobile (tablet and smartphone), beating out apparel and electronics by a large margin. These results coincide with the explosion in grocery e-commerce this year, with startups like Instacart grabbing more volume.
The study had some good news for bricks and mortar retailers- consumers were asked why they liked shopping in stores, and they cited three reasons which online retailers cannot currently compete with: the tangibility of product in brick and mortar stores, instant gratification (not 1 hour), and ability to assess size and fit. The online channel is working hard on overcoming these challenges; even having delivery people wait while the consumer tries on their order. Conversely, when respondents shared why they preferred shopping online, only one is not replicable by a physical store: “No need to travel to a physical store.”
The study also pointed out a large decrease in the amount of foot traffic at US retail stores, corresponding with the increase of e-commerce sales. This statistic should rightly be alarming to retailers, and highlights the limitations of the retail store in today’s world. In order to be successful, retailers and manufacturers need to figure out how to reach their consumers whenever and wherever they are shopping. And they need a supply chain that can keep up!
To learn more about ES3’s solutions, contact us at strategy@es3.com. To download a copy of PwC’s Annual Global Total Retail Consumer Survey, click here.
