Guess how many consumers prefer to shop in-store rather than online?

Published 10th Apr 2019 by charlottegw

A new study has found that 85% of UK consumers prefer to shop in store, despite the convenience offered by online shopping. This research could suggest that an omni-channel approach should be a feature in your salon retail business plan. A survey of 1,056 UK adults carried out by leading digital marketing agency, Marketingsignals.com, revealed that 85% of people still prefer to physically purchase products in store, despite the convenience offered by online shopping. Although the rapid growth of e-commerce has significantly reduced footfall to the high street, the research found that three-quarters of customers would still prefer to make a purchase in a store, with 82% of these saying this is because they prefer to receive the product as soon as they’ve purchased it. Furthermore, nine in 10 (94%) UK shoppers stated they’ll always research a product online before going into store to purchase. The research also found that 78% of consumers prefer to go into store to see and feel a product before going online to shop around for the best price. According to latest ONS figures, retail sales in the UK totalled more than £366 billion in 2017, though amazingly, 85% of sales still happen in stores, not online. Gareth Hoyle, managing director at Marketingsignals.com offers three ways to make your consumers spend more in your salon below:

Ensure your digital shopping platform is working hard “In an ideal world, consumers would rather visit a store to make a purchase, though due to time constraints, stock issues and ultimately, convenience, many turn to shopping online. This is a lesson for you to ensure that your salon's website is the place that they buy from rather than other competitors. When clients come to the salon make sure they are aware that you offer an online service too rather than just in-store retail and it's a good idea to give them an offer or incentive to shop online with them rather than your competitors, whether that's with quick delivery, a saving or an offer." Get tech savvy “Tools such as Google Store Visits allow retailers to directly attribute digital marketing spend to increased footfall. Retailers that embrace proximity marketing and beacon technology can directly speak to customers in store – for example, if they are in your salon and go onto Google to shop around, you can force a pop-up notification to the user’s phone (via bluetooth) with the offer of a discount code or similar.” Consider setting up a loyalty scheme or receipt service “Retailers with a loyalty scheme or e-receipt service are proving to be the most savvy with attributing digital spend to in store footfall as they know who their customer is and can attribute in store sales to their email address – the same email address that Google and Facebook can link back to their search history, social profile and record of which ads they were presented with. This way, you can more accurately assess the effectiveness of your online ads.”