Deloitte Digital’s latest study “Navigating the New Digital Divide” predicts that digital interactions will influence 64 cents of every dollar spent in retail stores by the end of 2015 (representing $2.2 trillion) – further evidence that digital technology not only affects eCommerce sales, but also has a much broader impact on in-store sales and in-store consumer behavior.
Deloitte Digital’s new study reveals that digital’s influence on consumer spending in physical stores has grown fourfold over the last three years – up from 14 cents in every dollar in 2012, and set to influence a staggering 64 cents of every dollar spent in retail stores by the end of 2015.
This latest study highlights the dramatic increase in influence that digital is having on both in-store sales and in-store consumer behaviour – and underscores why digital should matter for any brand who wants to connect with the consumer at any point during their buying journey.
Digitally-influenced consumers buy more and spend more
Among consumers who use digital devices to shop, Deloitte found that almost one-third of consumers say they spend more due to their use of digital during the shopping process. Most often, these shoppers end up spending more because they either perform product research (leading to the purchase of a complementary or higher-priced item) or take advantage of a discount or coupon found online, which causes them to buy more overall.
Deloitte also found that people who use digital while they shop in-store convert at a 20 percent higher rate compared to those who do not use digital as part of the shopping process.
Baby and Toddler the next category to ‘tip’
Deloitte reports that digital behavior has evolved across all categories, most notably Baby/Toddler which is one of the next categories to be disrupted due to digital: digital influence in this category has jumped from 39 percent to 52 percent since Deloitte’s 2014 study.
In the Baby/Toddler category:
• Consumers are most likely to spend more due to digital, at 46 percent.
• Shoppers are most likely to read product reviews via digital, at 81 percent.
• Consumers are most likely to use social media during their shopping journey, at 56 percent.
• Over 15 percent of shoppers made their last purchase through ‘buy online, pick up in store.’
The importance of product reviews within this category is also reflected in our latest
Nearly 80% of shoppers interact with brands via digital before arriving at a store
Nearly 8 in 10 consumers (76 percent) surveyed interact with brands or products before arriving at the store, and are making digitally-influenced decisions much earlier in the shopping process.
According to Deloitte, customers in the digital era are more hunters than gatherers once they arrive in-store. These customers do their research online, identify the products they want to purchase, and even select the stores they want to visit. Therefore, having timely insights into how your product is performing online, and understanding how a customer engages with your brand online, are critical success factors to overall sales.
Deloitte believes we are fast approaching a day when we can assume 100 percent of shoppers will be connected 100 percent of the time – in order to survive and thrive in this environment, retailers and brands need to start preparing for that day now.
You might also be interested in downloading a presentation given at the Spring LEAD Marketing Conference in which Keith Anderson shares guidance and recommendations on how to continuously improve your brand’s eCommerce performance through:
- Enhancing product content to drive conversion
- Analyzing sentiment analysis of ratings and reviews
- Optimizing digital product assortment
- Understanding how to influence search rankings at Amazon, Walmart, Target and other leading retailers
