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Customers Want Blended In-Store Experiences

Customers’ expectations for in-store shopping experiences have grown as e-commerce and the capabilities of other retail technologies have changed.

As Mark Mathews of the National Retail Federation (NRF) says in the Q&A here, consumers still want to shop in brick-and-mortar stores, but they are interested in blended, technology-enhanced experiences.

NRF reports in its Consumer View Summer 2019 study that more than 60 percent of shoppers think innovations, such as mobile apps and websites that show what stores have in stock, make their in-store shopping better.

Applied to Retail

The NRF research shows that many consumers see retail technology as a solution for in-store shopping frustrations, such as difficulty finding the products they want.

Affordable options are becoming more available to independent retailers for improving e-commerce, developing mobile apps and showing what’s in stock.

Continuously explore your tech options so you can adapt. Keep in mind that customers increasingly want a blended experience, not an online store that functions separately from your brick-and-mortar store.

store experiences

About Kate Klein

Kate is profiles editor for Hardware Retailing magazine. She reports on news and industry events and writes about retailers' unique contributions to the independent home improvement sector. She graduated from Cedarville University in her home state of Ohio, where she earned a bachelor's degree in English and minored in creative writing. She loves being an aunt, teaching writing to kids, running, reading, farm living and, as Walt Whitman says, traveling the open road, “healthy, free, the world before me.”

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