Men want convenience, women crave personalisation and Millennials want it all. That’s our key take out from a new study released in the US by Euclid Analytics called “Bringing Digital In-Store”
According to the report accompanying the study, “The market saturation of smartphones has fundamentally changed the retail shopping landscape—both online and in physical stores.”
The study reveals significant differences between shoppers along gender and generational lines. For instance, the authors note: “Some 68 per cent of men aged 18 to 34 who own a smartphone or tablet say that if a retailer or other business offered guest Wi-Fi they would be very/somewhat likely to use it for getting faster check-out via an exclusive VIP lane.”
Furthermore they say a clear majority of the same men (61 per cent) indicate they’d be very/somewhat likely to use the guest Wi-Fi service to get in an exclusive line for in-store services such as technical support, customer assistance, or online order pick-up. “Not to mention, more Millennial men say they would be very/somewhat likely to use Wi-Fi to request the help of a store associate than millennial women, 53 per cent vs. 42 per cent, respectively.”
Meanwhile three quarters of women aged 18 to 34 who own a smartphone or tablet would happily use a retailer or other business’s guest Wi-Fi to get instant access to an exclusive gift, daily deal or coupon for that day’s purchase.
The generation gap also features strongly in the report, with the authors writing, “It is no surprise that Millennials who own a smartphone or tablet are more likely than Baby Boomers to leverage guest Wi-Fi to access a variety of services.”
“In fact, the percentage of Gen X respondents that are very/somewhat likely to use guest Wi-Fi to access a number of in-store services more closely resembles millennial respondents than Baby Boomers. For brands whose shoppers span the various generations, this signals a word of caution in pursuing the appropriate path of engagement when creating a logged-in experience in brick-and-mortar stores.”
Another telling result of the study is how receptive consumers are the receiving messages from the stores while shopping. Three out of four people surveyed were open to receiving messages in store and even more – 80 per cent – wanted to love to continue once they stepped back outside onto the high street. However they are wanted control over how the the medium used to deliver the message as well as control over consent. These views were consistent across all age groups.
