Mele’s Musings

Online research and offline buying prove a powerful connection

If they’re using both channels interchangeably, shouldn’t the experience be the same?

Image: carolphillips.net

Article excerpt:  While online activity is believed to influence much of offline purchasing, multi-channel merchants struggle with determining exactly what effect the two channels have on each other. At the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition in Chicago, Ken Cassar, vice president, industry solutions analytics, Nielsen Online, offered a glimpse into the research firm’s recent finding exploring cross-channel shopping behavior.  In a session called “What’s that shopper worth? Measuring the offline impact of an online visit,” Cassar shared data from a Nielsen Online survey on how shoppers arrived at their purchases in two categories: consumer electronics and pet food. Purchasers of consumer electronics—defined as those who had made a purchase from that category, online, within the past 60 days—cite many reasons to buy online, including 68% who said they could get a better price there; 50% who found it easier to compare prices online, and 45% who said home delivery was more convenient than a store purchase. Respondents could select more than one answer.
The rest: internetretailer.com

Musing:  A pet peeve of mine for a long time is how different online experiences can be from offline.  Customers have an expectation that a company will treat them consistently regardless of the channel that they are in.  Or, perhaps it’s a wish that they would, because I think that consumers have just gotten used to the fact that companies still do a pretty poor job of connecting all of their channels together into one consistent view of the customer.  The article points out that the majority of customers who purchase in either channel spend time in the other before purchasing.  Seems to me that there is a tremendous value to offer, and a great experience to create by connecting these two channels better.