75% Of All Shoppers Are Now Using Mobile In-Store With 25% Actually Making A Purchase

ATLANTA, April 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- To help brands and retailers understand the new realities and opportunities presented by disruptive changes in shopping behavior, retail strategy and marketing firm InReality is today introducing its inaugural "Reality of Retail" report.

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Purchases in brick-and-mortar stores still accounted for over 94% ($4.4T) of all retail sales in the U.S. last year. This report focuses on shopper behavior inside these stores, by surveying their use of mobile devices in-store, the effectiveness of loyalty programs and the effectiveness of traditional in-store marketing tactics along the shopper's path to purchase.

"We know the rapidly accelerating growth and adoption of technology is disrupting retail as shoppers are researching and buying online; and yet we also know that the overwhelming majority of retail dollars spent by shoppers is still within brick-and-mortar," said Gary Lee, president and chief executive officer of InReality. "Our research focuses on uncovering the 'tug of war' brewing inside stores as shoppers choose the best of online and in-store marketing. Traditional in-store marketing is still critically important to shoppers, but technology, especially mobile, is having an impact on the store—changing the shopper's path to purchase and calling for brands and retailers to start rethinking in-store strategies."

"Retailers now know that increasingly, their cross-channel shoppers are just 'shoppers,' and that their biggest challenge is in how to merge the digital and physical selling worlds into one seamless customer experience," said Nikki Baird, managing partner at Retail Systems Research. "The compelling opportunity for retailers is in blending the best of what the digital realm has to offer with the best that the physical realm delivers." 

Highlights from "The Reality of Retail Report" include:

Shoppers Are Not Doing All Their Research Online

• 53 percent of shoppers surveyed prefer to research products in-store
• Even the 18-24 age group prefer to research product information in-store instead of online, with 57 percent of shoppers surveyed in that age group preferring to research in-store

1/4 Of Shoppers Are Using Their Mobile Devices to Purchase In-Store

• The majority of shoppers (75 percent) are using mobile in-store
• 25 percent of shoppers are actually using their mobile devices in-store to make a purchase

Traditional In-Store Marketing Still Matters, But Some Tactics Must Change

• 56 percent of shoppers still think advertising is important to their purchase decision in-store
• However, only 12 percent of shoppers feel the in-store sales associate is an important touch point in a purchase decision

Loyalty Programs May Not Be Driving Loyalty

• Only 46 percent of shoppers who use loyalty programs consider them to be important in their decision to purchase
• And, 71 percent of shoppers who use loyalty programs still use their mobile for price comparisons

The Reality of Retail Survey was conducted in December 2014, and collected a total of 1,361 survey responses across 11 retail categories. The survey invited 461 respondents to share in-store shopping experiences and rank the importance and effectiveness of various touch points along the path to purchase. The data was then analyzed and prepared into a summary report with recommendations for brands and retailers.

The full Reality of Retail report along with recommendations for brands and retailers can be downloaded for free here.

About InReality

InReality transforms how customers experience brands and retailers in-store, turning consumer insights into innovative solutions for the reality of 21st century retail. For almost 20 years, we've worked with clients, like The Coca-Cola Company, Tempur Sealy and The Home Depot, to build stronger, more enduring customer relationships, while creating measurable results. And, we offer the real-world expertise and convenience of handling everything under one roof—from research, strategy and design to production, implementation and analytics.

To learn more visit: www.inreality.com.

SOURCE InReality

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