Dive Brief:
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About 74% of omnishoppers — those who research their planned purchase online, but make purchases in-store, or vice versa — look forward to shopping in-store when they have time, yet almost the same number (76%) admit to doing most of their shopping online, according to a survey from retargeting firm Criteo that was emailed to Retail Dive.
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The Shopper Story survey questioned 2,500 buyers in key consumer electronics product categories in the U.S, and uncovered a variety of insights about consumer electronics shopping patterns, as well as broader omnishopper behavior.
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The survey also discovered that 75% of shoppers make purchases online after seeing the product at a retail store, while only 63% browse products online and then purchase them in-store.
Dive Insight:
Much of the information in this survey could prove helpful for consumer electronics retailers and brands, but some implications about omnichannel patterns could be applied more broadly to retailers in almost any segment.
On the consumer electronics front, the survey found that 53% of consumer electronics buyers do not buy from the first website they visit, while 52% are nearly as likely to make impulse purchases online as they are offline. Also, 32% of online shoppers often visit multiple websites to compare products, while 54% of shoppers compare within the same site. Other studies have suggested those shoppers staying on one site to run price comparisons might be doing so on Amazon, where many shoppers also start their initial product searches.
The percentage of consumer electronics shoppers that visit multiple websites for product comparisons is much higher than it is for other retail segments. In the consumer product goods segment, for example, only 18% visit multiple sites, according to Criteo.
Nevertheless, enabling shoppers to drift between multiple channels could pay off for retailers, as the survey found that consumer electronics omnishoppers spend — on average — 22% more online than
single-channel shoppers and 3% more in stores. For retailers considering an investment in omnichannel — especially those who deal with consumer electronics — that's a promising number.
