Shoppers are dissatisfied with today’s in-store and online shopping experience.
A recent global study by the IBM Institute for Business Value, based on a survey of nearly 20,000 consumers across 26 countries, found that only 9% of respondents are satisfied with in-store shopping. Online shopping is not faring well either, with only 14% of respondents saying they were satisfied with the experience.
Respondents in Southeast Asia gave similar sentiments. “In terms of the in-store and online shopping experience, over 95% of consumers in Southeast Asia are dissatisfied, which presents an opportunity to improve the current consumer shopping experience through digitalization,” said Aileen Judan-Jiao, Country General Manager and Technology Leader at IBM Philippines, in an exclusive statement to NoypiGeeks.
When asked how the in-store experience could be improved, the top three choices of the surveyed consumers were greater variety of products available (37%), more information about the products (26%), and faster checkout (26%). As for online shopping, the top three choices were having an easier way to find the product the consumers want (36%), more information about the products (33%), and easier way to return products (33%).
The consumer study highlighted three action guides to help retail businesses: curate holistic experiences, achieve sustainability at scale, and optimize operations and strengthen partnerships. In all these actions, the study suggested the use of AI for better customer service and predicting demand.
“Technologies like AI are now available to help retailers revolutionize areas such as supply chain, product development, customer service, and virtual assistance,” Judan-Jiao added.
You can read the consumer study in its entirety here.