PwC: In-store Shopping Still Center of Experience

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

According to a new report by PwC titled, Demystifying the Online Shopper: 10 Myths of Multichannel Retailing, while digital technology continues to reshape the way companies and consumers interact, social media is not replacing the in-store shopping experience.

The PwC report addresses 10 myths about multichannel retailing and captures some ideas that companies can consider to keep up with their customers. These include:

• Myth 1: Social media will soon become an indispensable retail channel
  Social media isn’t likely to become an important retail channel anytime soon and currently is a driver for more shopping across all channels, not just online stores.
• Myth 2: Stores will become mainly showrooms in the future
  For most companies, the physical store remains the centerpiece of the purchase journey. However, companies need to determine how to best drive purchase activity across all of their channels both physical and online. There still is a place for the store to be a showroom—as a supplement for online pure players, rather than a new model for brick-and-mortar retailers.

Lisa Feigen Dugal, PwC U.S. retail & consumer sector advisory leader comments:

“A multichannel retail strategy can be extremely advantageous. The more minutely retailers can identify how consumers are utilizing the different channels, the more success they will have,” she said. “Companies need a strategy that will create value by connecting with consumers and engaging with them directly online, while providing a meaningful, seamless shopping experience across all channels.”