Store Experience Trumps Omnichannel, Survey Indicates

Shoppers care more about being able to find things on shelves than whether they can also shop a store online, according to a new customer survey that paints a positive picture for traditional brick-and-mortar grocery stores amid the rise of technology and smartphones. 

Photograph courtesy of CB4

The Supermarket Customer Experience Survey was conducted by analytics and research firm CB4 and based on a survey of 1,055 U.S. shoppers. 

On the subject of in-store versus online, 58% of shoppers reported buying groceries in-store very often, compared to only 4.74% who say they buy groceries online very often. Most shoppers (53%) reported never buying groceries online, followed by 22% who reported doing so only rarely.

Nonetheless, CB4 reports that those who buy groceries online through apps such as Instacart, Amazon and Walmart, or even through grocery store websites, tend to have fairly high expectations, which puts pressure on grocery retailers who try to court such shoppers. 

For those who tend to shop most often in-store, 53% told the surveyors that they spend 30-60 minutes in-store shopping for groceries, while 30% of those shoppers indicate they would like to spend less time in-store shopping for groceries.

Shoppers ranked a variety of in-store factors, including being able to find products, a clean environment, competitive pricing, service and ease of navigation, over an ability to shop the brand online as a component of the experience. “[I]t may not be as important to reduce customers’ time in your stores or optimize for click-and-collect,” the report suggested. “Instead, focus on reducing in-store friction by stocking the products shoppers want where and when they want it.”

In the section of the report that explains its methodology, the authors of the report state that the responses and data collected was balanced between genders, age ranges and household incomes, with 26% of respondents ages 18-29, 21% ages 30-44, 35% ages 45-60, and 18% over age 60.