By Jonathan BakerContributors: Hailey Lipiec, Social Media Manager and Calista Zahos, Junior Marketing Coordinator Browsing and purchasing products of all kinds will increase between now and the end of the upcoming holiday season. With the advent of online shopping, it’s easy to think that this is the preferred method for customers to make purchases. Guess what? Shopping is not that cut and dried. The strength of the in-store presence Information about the latest and greatest products appear everywhere from newspapers and television commercials to social media posts. Aside from traditional and digital media, consumers are learning about new merchandise in their favorite brick-and-mortar stores. As concluded by e-Marketer, the in-store retail experience is critical to product awareness, consideration—or both. Traditional in-store shopping is trending One example of the popularity of purchasing from a retail space is evident in back-to-school shopping. This year, approximately 74 percent of shoppers are making in-store purchases for items needed to return to the classroom. Branching out to general purchases, nearly half the shoppers in the nation began seeing or hearing about new products during visits to their local brick-and-mortar stores. Consider how this compares to other methods of discovery… Image Credit: e-Marketer Is in-store outpacing online? As detailed in the bar graph above, traveling to a store, in person, to find information about a new product tops visiting retailer websites or conducting online searches. Even if shoppers first see the product in a television ad or social media post, visiting a store is crucial as to whether they will consider making a purchase. Now, where the online component is concerned… Online channels are in in sync with in-store shopping If a customer visits a store and sees a product of interest, there is a chance he or she may still wait on purchasing it. The e-Marketer report states that just over 25 percent of shoppers tend to research a product via search engine once they have discovered it at a brick-and-mortar store. Close to 24 percent of these shoppers will check the product out on related websites or apps of multibrand retailers. Regardless of traditional or digital methods of research, the “human factor” is the common denominator… Word of mouth An interesting side note from the e-Marketer study is that that many shoppers—whether visiting stores or conducting online searches—act on recommendations from friends and family when learning about new products. This proves the cliché of how “word of mouth is the best form of advertising.” The findings presented above prove the statement in the first paragraph: Shopping is not that cut and dried. If you have questions about how to best promote your brand or business, the EGC Group can help you find the right solution. We will help you determine the best method of reaching and attracting an audience, be it traditional, digital, or both. (You’d be amazed at the results of an effectively designed integrated campaign.) Care to know more? Get in touch with us. We look forward to finding the perfect retail experience for you and your customers.
