How Do Shoppers Bring Digital into Physical Stores?

About four in ten shoppers report checking sales and promotions available to them on a retailer’s mobile app while shopping in-store, according to the 10th annual RIS News study.

The report found that several different online consumer behaviors bled into the physical retail experience including, checking sales and promotions, comparing prices, and researching products. Shoppers were also looking to their screens to cut out some of the tasks a salesperson would perform, such as checking inventory and scanning bar codes.

Smartphones act as a perfect shopping companion, bringing some of the convenience shoppers look for online into the physical retail space. Unlike the common perception that retail is dead, retail is transitioning into the hybrid world. Some marketers are recommending that brick-and-mortar stores offer WiFi and equip their sales associates with tablets or smartphones so that they can best serve the hybrid shopping habits of consumers.