Survey: online browsing supports the high street
By Retail Technology | Wednesday July 23 2014
Recent research has shown that customers shopping on the high street are often spurred on by the web
Britons are still shopping on the high street and could be encouraged to do so by online browsing, according to a recent survey.
This research conducted between 1 June and July 1 July 2014 by digital marketing company SalesGossip. The company emailed an online questionnaire as a dedicated email to its mostly UK-based member database, generating 1,266 responses.
The responses seemed to indicate that despite shoppers spending increasing amounts of
time browsing for information online, stores are still closing the actual sale according to the majority of respondents.
The results showed that even “inherently internet-savvy” members seem to head to a bricks and mortar shops for their fashion clothing and accessories (63% of respondents) and beauty or cosmetic products (64%).
A blend of digital and physical
The results also showed that shoppers are mixing digital and physical channels, with 66% of respondents saying the were proactively using the SalesGossip site to find in-store promotions. Within the Greater London, this number rose to 73%.
Over half of respondents said they first found a sale they liked before heading in-store, which further illustrates that online campaigns don’t necessarily generate an online response but rather benefit in-store footfall.
In addition, a small number of those also visited the retailer or brand’s own website before heading in-store, raising the question of how branding is managed across multiple digital and physical channels.