75 percent of Retail Associates Report Latest Mobile Technology Leads to Better Customer Experience

The latest installment of the Motorola Solutions annual Holiday Shopping Survey highlights that three in four (75 percent) surveyed retail associates and managers feel they provide a better in-store customer experience when equipped with the latest mobile technologies. In fact, shoppers echoed a similar sentiment as more than two-thirds (67 percent) of surveyed shoppers reported heightened satisfaction with retailers where in-store associates utilized the latest technologies to assist in the shopping experience. The rising availability of shopping-assisted options across all shopping channels has raised customer service expectations for shoppers and retail associates. According to the survey, more than eight in ten (83.3 percent) surveyed retail associates and managers believe that shoppers can easily find a better deal so customer service is more important than ever. From a shopper perspective, 33 percent of shopping trips ended with shoppers leaving before satisfying their intent to purchase, costing an average of $125 per trip. Of those lost opportunities, more than 73 percent did not complete their purchases with the original retailer. While shopper activity and spend remains higher in-store than online, retailers need to continue to address the needs of the omni-channel shopper. Online purchases swelled by more than 18 percent compared to 2010 and 63 percent of surveyed shoppers with smartphones downloaded some type of shopping application. Increasing online spend has created variances in satisfaction between offline and online experiences - almost 41 percent of shoppers were not satisfied with the ability to receive in-stock status in-store compared to 20 percent online. Approximately 27 percent of shoppers were not satisfied with the ease of finding correct prices in-store versus approximately 14 percent online; and 42 percent of shoppers were not satisfied with the check-out process in-store compared to 15 percent online. Online shoppers cited a much higher dissatisfaction rate (41 percent compared to 25 percent) for the return/exchange process, providing a significant advantage for in-store retailers. Two complimentary surveys were fielded from Nov. 26 through Dec.13, one targeted to shoppers and one targeted to in-store associates, staff and in-store managers. The surveys were designed to reveal the experiences and attitudes that each group has toward the use of certain shopping technologies and the impact on customer satisfaction. Respondents to the Shopper survey were selected from the Research Now Consumer panel to represent a general distribution of the consumer population over 18 years of age. 1,231 respondents completed the shopper survey without knowledge of Motorola Solutions sponsorship. “Retailers continue to deploy technology to improve the shopping experience but need to pay closer attention to the growing expectations of the omni-channel shopper” commented Michelle Crissey, Customer Solutions Lead, Motorola Solutions. “Rather than just give them technology and call it a positive experience, customers prefer that retailers use the technology in a meaningful way to actually give them a better experience, both in-store and for fulfillment of online and mobile orders.”