Stores to become "showrooms" - study

PARIS: A majority of shoppers agree bricks and mortar stores will primarily serve as "showrooms" for products by the end of the decade, a multimarket study has found.

Capgemini, the consultancy, polled 16,000 adults in 16 markets including Brazil, China, Germany, India, Russia, Mexico, the UK and US. Some 51% of the panel concurred that physical stores will solely become places to "select and order products" by 2020.

While scores on this metric were more pronounced in fast-growth economies, the analysis also revealed that at least a third of consumers in mature markets adopted the same perspective.

Elsewhere, 67% of the sample anticipated making a larger number of orders directly from brand manufacturers in the future. This figure was matched by online retailers.

In keeping with these trends, a further 53% of interviewees stated in-store digital devices, such as kiosks and gadgets incorporated into shopping carts, should play a greater role in the purchase process.

Equally, 51% of the respondents agreed that tools created by brand owners would gain in importance, reaching 50% for third-party equivalents and 49% for those offered by retailers.

Social media platforms were afforded a similar standing by 47%, although this total rose to more than 60% in the fast-growth markets of Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Turkey.

When assessing purchase drivers for the next five years, exactly 60% of those questioned reported that price would remain "extremely important", beating products on 51%.

Issues surrounding access - such as to product information, personal account data or for setting communications preferences - logged 44%, ahead of the retail experience on 34%.

Nearly 60% of individuals surveyed also expected a "seamless, integrated" ability to make purchases across all channels to be "the norm" by 2014, rising to over 70% of people in developing nations.

"First and foremost, shoppers expect an integrated experience across all channels but aren't yet getting it," the study argued. "More than half said that most retailers currently are not consistent in the way they present themselves across channels."

"They are looking for consistency and convergence among different technologies and channels. And they have no predefined views about what 'belongs' in specific channels, but will use whichever channel or device is most relevant."

Data sourced from Capgemini; additional content by Warc staff, 17 July 2012

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