We're all online today, but brands and retailers need to think omnichannel

Let’s start by looking, from the consumers’ perspective, at how important online shopping is to them and then compare that with their views on offline shopping. A stand-out figure from our survey this year is that, according to consumers themselves, 57% of their overall spend goes online. This compares to the 45% reported pre-COVID in 2019, and is also higher than the 51% consumers said they expected to spend post-pandemic when asked last year. But it is still slightly lower than the 61% people said they were spending online at the height of the pandemic.

So, there we have it - online spend has overtaken offline, right? We have to qualify this by saying these figures are reported spend from consumers. When you look at retail industry revenue figures, you see something quite different. For example, one set of statistics suggests that in 2021, the UK had the highest online retail market share in Europe - 28.9%. But we found UK shoppers saying they were on average spending 63% of their overall shopping budgets online.

Why the discrepancy? Our survey specifically focuses on active digital shoppers, so doesn’t include the section of the market that exclusively shop offline. And it could be a case of consumers over-reporting exactly how much they do spend online. Although this in itself is an indication of how important online is for them.

And the indications are that digital’s importance to consumers is only going to rise - 73% of people we surveyed said as much. There seems little doubt that the pandemic has had a huge impact in shaping opinions on digital shopping. 80% of people said it had come to their rescue during the pandemic.

But also, when it comes to the experience provided, consumer preferences are very heavily weighted in favour of online. We asked shoppers to make a direct comparison between online and offline in 13 different categories, covering choice, convenience, product information, value and more. Online was picked out as the better option in 11 of those 13 categories, and by some huge margins. For example, 61% of people told us they preferred online retail for the variety of products available, compared to just 12% who said offline.

The two areas where offline won out in were in getting advice and consultation from staff and the ability to get the right product. And even then by margins of just 2% and 7% respectively!

Consumers might see online shopping as the better (perhaps easier, more convenient) option on a range of factors. The pandemic might have boosted the importance they place in being able to buy online, and accelerated their use of online channels. But our survey results also show categorically that they are not ready to give up on bricks-and-mortar yet.

Worldwide, 60% of shoppers told us that they preferred to shop with retailers or brands that had both a digital and physical presence. This reflects a growing trend in flexible, cross-channel shopping habits - 72% of people say they research purchases online before going into a store to buy, 60% say they will check online reviews (especially through big digital marketplaces like Amazon) while browsing in store.

What’s particularly interesting about these stats is that this taste for flexible switching between online and offline channels seems to be strongest in some of the countries where digital is most dominant. In China, for example, consumers report that 66% of their shopping spend now goes online. In India and Indonesia the figure is 64%, in Brazil 62%, in Thailand 60%.

In Thailand, India and Brazil, more than 80% of people say they research purchases online before heading to a store. The same figure applies for the number of shoppers in Thailand, Indonesia and India who check online reviews while actually in store. 70% of consumers in China do the same, the same proportion who say they prefer to buy from brands with digital and physical stores. This rises to 79% in Thailand, 76% in India and 73% in Indonesia.

So, in Asia especially, we can see a huge appetite for digital commerce. But consumers in these countries see no contradiction in wanting the option of physical stores, too, or indeed using the different channels side by side as part of the same blended shopping experience.

One final set of findings worth drawing attention to are these. Worldwide, 32% of shoppers we spoke to said they find online shopping ‘boring’. Intriguingly, this figure peaks at 57% in Indonesia - one of the countries where consumers report spending most online. 48% of shoppers in Thailand, another very digitally active consumer market, said the same.

There was even more of a consensus on shoppers wanting online commerce to be more ‘entertaining’ - 62% said as much worldwide. And again, this figure was much higher in places like Indonesia and Brazil (81%), India (78%) and Thailand (74%), where both digital spend and desire for blended omnichannel options are highest.

Can we infer from this that, despite all the advantages digital offers, one of the reasons consumers still want the option of stores is the desire to make shopping ‘entertaining’ - to make it an event, a day out, a chance to meet with friends, an opportunity to treat yourself?

Speaking of entertainment, another trend that we should bring into the debate around what omnichannel is and what it means is the way that the boundaries of how and where we shop are continually being challenged and pushed back.

People are no longer just using what we’d identify as conventional commerce channels to shop - a physical or online store, a retailer or brand app, a marketplace. They are buying through social media, video games, immersive ‘metaverse’ virtual reality platforms. They are handing agency for making their shopping decisions to AI bots. They are even making purchases not for their ‘real’ selves, but for their digital avatars in gaming and metaverse contexts.

For example, 62% of people who play video games say they spend money through gaming platforms - another very obvious link between commerce and entertainment. Globally, 65% of people say they have now purchased through social media - a huge leap on the 44% who said they had in 2021.

60% of consumers say they would be interested in buying digital equivalents of products they buy from themselves for their avatar - for example so their digital representation in games or metaverse settings dressed the same as them. This is another interesting angle on the way that the lines between digital and ‘physical’ realities are becoming blurred. 29% of people we spoke to this year say they actively make purchases in or have in the past made purchases in the metaverse. 35% have used AI platforms that make recommendations for purchases, or even automatically buy on their behalf.

These are all, of course, very much ‘digital’ trends. But they highlight how, when we speak about omnichannel commerce, the simple online-offline binary is no longer adequate to describe the realities of how people shop. Digital technology is reshaping the way people engage with the world, what they understand as ‘reality’. One consequence is that the rules of what it means to be a consumer are being re-written, with new opportunities and new motivations to spend.