The connected customer is fundamentally transforming retail. The connected customer is mobile, social, and savvy about digital, but still interested in a great in-store shopping experience.
When it comes to online shopping, more than 62% of ecommerce traffic now comes from mobile devices. The share of orders placed over mobile devices is increasing rapidly too, growing 41% year over year.. And more than 50% of retail commerce still happens in physical stores. Influencing more than half of that in-store commerce, however, is the digital environment—from multiple channels (social media, blogs, online retail) and multiple devices (mobile phones, tablets, computers).
Connected customers have high expectations. They interact with brands through many touchpoints—web, mobile, social, marketplaces, store, ads, connected devices. And they increasingly expect to buy in the context of the moment from each of these touchpoints. Connected customers want each interaction to be great, and for all their interactions to be coordinated into a single, unified experience.
As of now, however, few brands are able to deliver that kind of unified experience. There’s a gap between what connected customers want and what most commerce teams can deliver. Many retailers worry about scale and their ability to keep up with the demands of connected customers.