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Stores vs. Web Sites: The Battle Continues

Internet users are "multi-channel shoppers". While most shoppers rely heavily on in-store purchases, retailers must branch out to reduce the risk of losing customers to multi-channel competitors.

"Online retailers need to capitalize on and support their unique shopping and service competencies, while finding ways to achieve parity with stores on factors related to returns and product pricing and selection," said Mary Brett Whitfield, Director of the PricewaterhouseCoopers E-Retail Intelligence System®.

One survey conducted indicated that purchases for such things as apparel and electronics are readily in competition with Internet stores. Web purchases of apparel and consumer electronics are more likely to be influenced by shopping experiences at other channels than vice-versa.

For apparel, for example, almost 50% of Internet users surveyed showed that recent online purchases were influenced by catalogs or "brick and mortar" stores. Also, roughly 33% of catalog clothing purchasers and 25% of store clothing purchasers reported that their purchases were influenced by experiences they had online.

By Michael Pastore, The ClickZ Network, Oct 11, 2000