Price still king finds survey of Omni-channel consumers

The magazine Retail Week and Microsoft carried out a survey of 1,000 consumers and produced the report Fashion Retailing in an Omni-channel world.

The fashion arena has been one of the most disrupted retail sectors in recent years, shaken up in large part by smart pure-plays, innovative start-ups and developments in fulfilment. As a result, apparel retailers are constantly evolving to develop offerings that not only meet but exceed customers’ expectations.

The main findings of the report are:

• Price is still king – 77% of respondents cite it as one of the top three things they value about their favourite retailers.

• Finding products out of stock is the number one issue that has caused our polled consumers to have a negative shopping experience at 54%.

• A smooth returns process is vital to shoppers – 57% say it is very important and 34% say it is quite important to their buying decision.

• M&S tops the fashion charts, as 33% say it is their favourite fashion retailer, followed closely by Next at 31%.

• The physical store still beats online as the preferred way for consumers to shop for fashion, with 62% saying they prefer to shop for fashion in store.

Amazon tops the online fashion table, as 57% of consumers say they would normally shop with the online giant.

• 82% of consumers say good quality items are what makes a great fashion brand.

• The draw of in-store technology for consumers is better visibility of a range of special offers delivered directly to smartphones or tablet devices. There is a lot of opportunity for retailers to wow consumers with in-store technology.

You can download the report here.