Columbus, Ohio – August 26, 2008 – Sterling Commerce, an AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) company, today released the results of a recent survey that shows how consumers’ in Europe want to interact with retailers across channels. The findings, when compared to U.S. data, show that European consumers are more net-savvy and likely to cross channels – Web, store, call center – than U.S. shoppers, demonstrating to retailers that achieving cross-channel execution on a global basis will be critical in increasing consumer loyalty and share of wallet.
The European survey, conducted by Ipsos MORI, polled 1,000 consumers in the UK, France and Germany in March 2008. This survey was compared to a U.S. survey, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, which polled 1,005 adults in January 2008.
“The U.S. retailers who are doing better in today’s economic situation are those who have strengthened their international business,” said Jim Bengier, global retail industry executive for Sterling Commerce. “However, these surveys confirm that the lack of cross-channel integration mean that retailers may be missing the opportunity to offer more to customers in the states and abroad.”
As found in the U.S. survey, shoppers are hopping channels to gain more value out of their interactions with a retailer. In turn, the retailer has the opportunity to gain customer loyalty and share of wallet. According to the research, 82 percent of European consumers want to channel-hop to complete their purchases, including shopping in-store, online and by catalogue, with no difference in service between channels:
- 86 percent want the option of having merchandise delivered to their home or picking it up in-store after purchasing online (compared to only 56 percent in the U.S. study)
- 90 percent want to be able to return merchandise to a store even if it was purchased online or over the phone (81 percent of U.S. consumers)
- 44 percent say it’s important that call center staff have access to a record of what shoppers have viewed online (32 percent of U.S. consumers)
European consumers have higher expectations than U.S. consumers around away-from-home access to the web to enhance their shopping experience. The survey found that European shoppers are more net-savvy than their US peers and want their in-store and online experiences to be seamless:
- 66 percent research products online before buying in-store (compared to 57 percent in U.S.); this number rises to 73 percent for “high value” consumer groups – higher-income consumers, college graduates and younger consumers
- 48 percent want a web kiosk in-store to conduct product research (37 percent of U.S. consumers)
- 47 percent want access to their web account while shopping in-store (35 percent of U.S. consumers)
Survey Methodologies
The European survey was conducted using the online omnibus service, i:omnibus, from Ipsos MORI, the second largest survey research organisation in the UK. It surveyed 1,000 adults aged 16 to 64 in Great Britain, France and Germany about their buying habits and preferences across store, catalogue and Internet retail outlets. The U.S. survey was conducted through the Caravanâ omnibus survey service from Opinion Research Corporation. The final sample included 1,005 adults comprising 503 men and 502 women 18 years of age and older, living in private households in the continental United States.