Shoppers have changed - are retailers keeping up?

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 20 October 2011 14:45

Business IT - Technology

Research by the Australian Centre for Retail Studies suggests retailers need to get their act together in terms of responding to changing pre-purchase habits among their customers.

Shoppers basically want three things, according to Colin McLeod, executive director of the Australian Centre for Retail Studies (ACRS) at Monash University: information, control, and convenience. And technology can be used to deliver all three. Retailers need to think about how they use technology, because customers have already changed.

The traditional 'funnel' model - awareness, followed by research and comparison, which leads to purchasing - no longer applies. "That's not the way the market works any more," warned Dr McLeod.

Instead, the process is better described by a non-linear "journey" involving multiple steps and multiple channels. The average consumer now uses eight or nine channels in the purchasing process, with certain channels being employed more often at particular stages.

For non-routine purchases such as a bed, printed catalogues are consulted around three to four weeks ahead of the transaction. Opinions are sought via social media one to two weeks ahead and the results have a strong effect on the rest of the process, according to Dr McLeod.

Search engines are consulted during the week before the purchase occurs. Online retailers are visited the day before the purchase.

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