Dive Brief:
- More than 7 in 10 shoppers will use two or more channels for holiday shopping this year, including online and in-store, according to a survey of over 1,000 consumers released last month by property management company JLL.
- Nearly a quarter of shoppers will order items online and pick them up in-store during the 2024 holiday season, compared to 14% last year, the survey found. Only 13% of shoppers plan to use home delivery exclusively.
- Retailers can attract customers with efficient and creative experiences that balance the needs of online and in-person shopping, according to Jill Standish, senior managing director and global retail lead at Accenture.
Dive Insight:
Holiday shoppers are interested in a mix of in-person browsing and efficient order pickup, and retailers can offer the right experience for each approach to entice customers to keep coming back.
There is no one-size-fits all to a great in-store holiday shopping experience, according to Standish. A lot depends on whether a customer started their journey online or in-person.
“In-store experiences can draw consumers to do their holiday shopping in store this year,” Standish told CX Dive in an email. “They want the best of both worlds — creative experiences that wow them and convenient experiences that serve their needs with zero hassle.”
Shoppers who make a purchase online and visit the store to pick it up generally look for speed. Stores with a dedicated space for collecting e-commerce orders can ensure shoppers who started their journey online can complete it without any hassle, according to Standish.
Retailers may want to think about the curbside pickup experience too, as 27% of respondents plan on ordering items online and picking them up at curbside, up from 14% last year, according to JLL.
Top retailers are making curbside pickup faster and more efficient, Kassi Socha, director analyst of marketing at Gartner, told CX Dive in June. This can let customers quickly collect their purchase and move on with their day or enable them additional time to browse in-store.
Not all in-store holiday shoppers start their journeys online. Six in 10 shoppers will shop at a retail location inside a mall, and another 6 in 10 will visit a free-standing store or open-air shopping center, according to JLL.
Retailers can attract these shoppers by looking for ways to combine staff and technology to make these experiences easy, enjoyable and efficient, according to Standish.
“The most successful stores are those that recognize the need to curate a compelling reason for customers to visit, whether that’s the tactile experience of being able to touch and feel the product, feeling a sense of exclusivity and personalization with ‘VIP-style’ experiences, or being able to tap the expertise of store associates,” Standish said.
