In-store shoppers keen to avail location-based services, says Zebra Technologies Corporation’s Global Shopper Study

The eighth annual Zebra Technologies Corporation Global Shopper Study indicates that shoppers are very interested in Wi-Fi and location-based, in-store services such as mobile coupons (51%), shopping maps (45%) and associate assistance (41%).

These findings support Zebra’s One Store, One Experience campaign – focusing on brand experience, delivery and fulfillment, loyalty, big data and store mobility to transform the connected customer experience. With high customer expectations, retailers acknowledge that the role of technology has never been greater.

“As online and mobile shopping become more prevalent and accepted worldwide, the importance of the customer experience remains high – as noted by the majority of respondents who would buy more merchandise from retailers they believe provide better customer service. Mobile technology helps provide real-time visibility of product availability, flexible delivery and payment options – freeing retailers to focus on the shopper experience and delivering personalised services to customers,” says Mark Thomson, retail industry director EMEA, Zebra Technologies.

The study identified that more than one-third of shoppers (34%) believe they are better connected to real-time information than in-store associates. Meanwhile, 64% of shoppers would be willing to purchase more merchandise if they received better customer service and over one-half (52%) value retailers who use technology to make the shopping experience more efficient.

•  More than three-quarters (76%) of shoppers feel positive about shopping in stores and nearly one-half think that technology solutions are helping retailers enable and improve their shopping experience.

•  52% of shoppers ‘show-roomed’ or looked at items in-store but purchased them online.

•  More than three in 10 shoppers would prefer to go to a retail store to pick up items purchased via online or mobile channels.

•  Retailers can recover 66% of out-of-stock incidents by offering shoppers an immediate discount.

•  Nearly eight in 10 respondents are willing to share some level of information with retailers. But, retailers rank low on the list of institutions that shoppers trust with personal data as only 5% reported they completely trusted retailers.

•  64% of shoppers value retailers who give the flexibility to control how personal information is used to tailor experiences.