Retailers are being encouraged to take note of a new PricewaterhouseCoopers report, which debunks myths of multichannel retailing, including the rise of social media, tablets and China.<\/p>\n
<\/span> <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The report, titled Demystifying the online shopper; 10 myths of multichannel retailing<\/i>, is based on a global survey of more than 11,000 online shoppers from 11 countries.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The 11 countries covered in the survey are Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cRecently we\u2019ve noticed that much of the literature on online retail shoppers seizes on a few data points and parlays them into a trend,\u201d PwC\u2019s John Maxwell wrote in the report.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTake social media, for example\u2026 Consumers use social media to research brands, praise their favourite products and point out the weaknesses of other products.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut our survey reveals that just 12% of our respondents have purchased an item through a social media site\u2026 and only 18% purchased a product as a result of information obtained through a social media site.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The report goes on to highlight 10 myths of multichannel retailing. Here are the top five:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n While social media is becoming more popular every year, it will remain a \u201cbackwater\u201d sales channel for the time being, PwC said.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhile about half of respondents say they\u2019re checking out social media sites daily, only a tiny minority uses the sites frequently to shop,\u201d PwC said in its report.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSeven out of 10 online shoppers\u2026 say they never shop this way. That should remain the status quo for the immediate future, as only about 5% say they\u2019ll shop more via social media in the next 12 months.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Many multichannel shoppers say they research online but, according to PwC, more still prefer to buy products in-store.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTwenty-three per cent of our respondents research consumer electronics online and then go to a store to buy the product, compared to only 2% who do it the other way around,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWith the exception of the books, music, movies and video game category, consumers don\u2019t yet seem ready to erase the traditional retail outlet from their shopping landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n While tablets and smartphones are catching up, shoppers are still using their PCs to shop online.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOnly 9% of shoppers say they\u2019ve changed their habits to shop with a tablet more often \u2013 and around three out of five don\u2019t use this type of device to shop at all,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur respondents don\u2019t expect to increase their tablet purchases much next year either, with only 11% thinking they\u2019ll shop more with their tablet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Although consumers are shopping with more global retailers than ever before, there is a wide range of local difference in consumer behaviours.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cConsumers in different countries are still much more different than they are alike. Internet users\u2019 appetite for online shopping and social media varies widely,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnd growing purchasing power doesn\u2019t automatically translate into shopping enthusiasm.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n China is at the forefront of some key trends, but PwC believes China\u2019s multichannel and online model is unique.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOnly 30% of our Chinese respondents have been shopping [online] for more than five years, compared to 44% of the global sample. But they\u2019re already shopping much more frequently,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cChinese shoppers are also ahead of the curve in terms of using new devices and social media\u2026 So can online retailers now expect emerging trends in China to set the tone around the world? We think the answer is an emphatic \u2018no\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Retailers are being encouraged to take note of a new PricewaterhouseCoopers report, which debunks myths of multichannel retailing, including the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34952"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Myth 1: Social media will soon become an indispensable retail channel<\/h3>\n
Myth 2: Stores will become mainly showrooms in the future<\/h3>\n
Myth 3: The tablet will soon overtake the PC as the preferred online shopping device<\/h3>\n
Myth 4: As the world gets smaller, global consumers are getting more alike<\/h3>\n
Myth 5: China is the future model of online retail<\/h3>\n