For Over 50% of Consumers, Multi-Channel Shopping Now the Norm

By Adam Blair
It should come as no great shock to anyone that cross-channel shopping behaviors have become the rule rather than the exception for a majority of consumers. A recent consumer survey from Oracle reveals that 54% of consumers routinely employ two or more channels before they make a purchase. In fact, given the soaring growth of digital commerce, particularly new "comers" like mobile and social retailing, some might suspect that the actual number taking non-linear, multi-channel paths to purchase is even higher.

The report, based on a survey of 2,169 adults in the U.S. and Canada conducted in the fourth quarter of 2011, does indeed reveal how much and how deeply customers have incorporated digital commerce into their shopping patterns. A few highlights:

· Even though 25% of consumers say they fear security breaches on their mobile phone, 44% of consumers aged 25 to 34, and 30% of consumers aged 18 to 24, say they are (or soon will) use their mobile phone as a payment device within a store.
· 45% of consumers aged 18 to 34 who own a smartphone use it to purchase products as often as a few times a week. (Among older consumers this percentage drops precipitously, to 6%.)
· Nearly one-quarter (23%) of consumers have "liked" a merchant on Facebook, and 20% of consumers who are Facebook members have made a purchase there.

But if you think enthusiasm for newer channels is turning the store into a quaint relic of a bygone era, think again. Three-quarters of surveyed consumers say they go to the store to see the product prior to purchase, and 44% go when they need the product right away. If the items they're seeking aren't in stock, 51% of responding consumers say they expect a store associate to find the item online and have it shipped.

So the stakes involved in keeping stores stocked with the items customers want, or providing an alternative method of supplying them, have never been higher than they are today. Shoppers have become accustomed to the instant gratification that digital channels offer, and they expect it anywhere and everywhere – very much including the brick-and-mortar store.