Which Do Consumers Prefer – Online or Bricks and Mortar Stores?
By Anna Johnson on September 17th, 2008A study by PriceGrabber indicates no clear winner in the popularity stakes between online stores and off-line or ‘bricks and mortar’ stores.
The largest segment to respond to PriceGrabbers’s ‘Back To School’ survey – 38 percent of those surveyed – said they used both equally. Meanwhile, 31 percent said they preferred making their purchases online and 27 percent preferred buying in physical retail stores.
It’s an interesting question, and one to which the answer has changed – and will likely continue to change – over time. No question, there are key differences between the typical online and offline retail environment. Each attracts some consumers and not others for a range of reasons.
And while it’s not clear from PriceGrabber’s survey as to whether consumers were asked to compare online and offline shopping for the same kinds of products, it’s not necessarily the case that one group of consumers will always prefer one environment over the other. I know plenty of ardent book buyers – including myself – who love browsing both Amazon.com and my local Borders store.
Meanwhile, my hit prediction is that offline retail experiences that most people regard as “necessary evils” will gradually be supplanted by their online equivalents as more people become more comfortable and secure using the web – i.e. where there is no queue, less inconvenience, and boring tasks can be accomplished more quickly.
And you can bet this will be helped along by companies that subtly or not-so-subtly encourage their customers to go online… so they can eventually reduce the number of their much-more-expensive-to-maintain bricks and mortar stores.
Source: eMarketer, “Changing Retail Shopping Channels”, September 6, 2008, eMarketer
