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How digital is changing our retail therapy?

According to a new survey by Deloitte India, digital influence will drive in-store retail sales

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Sonal Desai
New Update

MUMBAI, INDIA: According to a new survey by Deloitte India, Digital influence will drive in-store retail sales.

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The study titled Navigating the New Digital Divide2015 - Key Imperatives for Indian Retailers, found that digital influences Rs 60,000 crore of in-store retail sales in India; electronics and apparel hold are the influenced, and digitally influenced consumers convert and spend more compared to physical’ shoppers.

According to the report, digital currently influences 21 percent ie Rs 60,000 crore of the over Rs 2,80,000 crore of in-store organized retail sales in India. The mobile influence factor is as high as 18 percent, with smart phones being the devices of choice for accessing information while on-the-go or in-store.

The digital impact

A great digital experience has the biggest impact before and during the shopping experience, the study noted. As per the survey, digitally influenced shoppers convert more often; the conversion rate of shoppers who use a digital touch-point is more than 40 percent higher than the non-digitally influenced shoppers. More than 66 percent of consumers spend more with a majority spending at least 25 percent more than they had intended. Interestingly, while discounts offered on digital properties induced the initial purchase, shoppers ended up spending more overall.

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Changing preferences

Given the right digital infrastructure such as shopping apps for end-to-end shopping needs, in-store self-service kiosks, etc, digitally influenced shoppers are likely to use digital almost 100 per cent of the time. In a store, over 70 percent of shoppers would prefer to use either their own device or an interactive in-store digital device, compared to a sales associate for their shopping-related needs. Also, 96 percent would prefer to use a digital device or touch-point to make a payment in-store, with Mobile Wallet being the most preferred digital payment option.

Furthermore, shoppers are increasingly looking for greater flexibility in buying and receiving delivery of products. About 37 percent respondents expressed willingness to try the Buy-Online-Pick-Up-in-Store model, which gives them the option of making a purchase online and later collecting the products from the store as per their convenience.

Key imperatives for retailers

Digital is no more a choice but an imperative for retailers in India. “Customers want a coherent shopping experience along their path to purchase,” says Rohit Bhatiani, Director, Deloitte India.

“Retailers need to build a meaningful digital presence and build a roadmap towards seamless integration of physical and digital assets. The interactions between customers and retailers should not be viewed as discrete, but as a holistic experience. It becomes important that retailers recognize the impact on the overall business and not look at digital initiatives as a channel-spend subset,” he notes.

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