Knowledge Lead to Confidence, and Confidence Leads to Buying

Implications: Study after study has proven that shoppers who browse, search and research online first and then buy in-store, spend more and return less.   The fact that 75% of multi-channel consumers prefer to move from clicks to bricks when shopping, while 7% reverse the direction is VERY good news for retailers, and the smartest retailers are making it as easy as possible for their customers to make the move from clicks to bricks, resulting in higher conversion rates, higher ticket, and higher customer satisfaction.

Analysis:
In the early days, retail salespeople felt threatened by the web, fearing consumers would come to the stores, touch all the merchandise, “use” the salespeople for product information then run home and buy online for the cheapest price, but the opposite is the reality.

Online shopping provides what is most difficult and most costly for bricks & mortar stores to provide and manage  - enormous choice and flexibility, always available, always-open access, detailed product information on every item, and qualified recommendations.

Unfortunately, consumers don't walk into retail stores with a stamp on their forehead that they browsed online first, so it's impossible to track the conversion rate of online shopping to retail buying and many retailers treat the two (online and offline stores) as competing and separate businesses.  The best multi-channel retailers embrace online stores as the super effective, super efficient marketing and sales tool they are for their bricks & mortar stores.

In retail, the more accessible you are, the better you are, and online equals the ultimate in access for consumers..