Study finds online shopping complements high street fashion stores
Online market place Ebay has published the results of a new study looking at the omnichannel retail trend and the impact of non-store shopping on the high street.
Ebay commissioned Deloitte to analyse data from 21 leading European retailers and question 2000 adults in the UK and Germany. The results show that for those retailers selling online, non-store shopping is almost entirely additional to their high street sales in two key sectors – dresses and white goods.
The study shows that for leading retailers who sell across multiple channels, over 95% of non-store dress sales in the UK are additional to high street sales. This means that for every £100 spent with these retailers beyond the store, only £5 would have been spent in their high street shops. Ebay said the statistics are mirrored by results in the German white goods market where 98% of non-store sales are additional for retailers.
In the UK dress market, the analysis is based on 17 of the top 30 retailers who have both store and online sales, and for which data was available, over a five-year period from 2009-2013. These retailers held 54% of the total dress market, and 40% of the online market in 2013.
The study suggests their success is achieved due to shoppers being able hop from channel to channel, making use of cross channel options like payment via mobile or Click & Collect, to make shopping more personal and convenient. Traditional customer frustrations like un-stocked shelves or queues at the till are solved by offering customers alternative purchase, collection and payment options.
Deloitte estimates that in the UK last year up to €9 billion of sales may have been enabled by omnichannel retail and €7 billion in Germany. In addition, the study found that retailers who have a presence on Ebay drive more customers into their high street stores and experience an increase in store sales of 1.2%
Ian Geddes, head of retail at Deloitte, said: “This study sets out to answer the question of how shopping beyond the store is affecting offline retailing. While this is a sector specific study and more research is required to draw industry-level conclusions, it suggests that a broad presence across channels can in many scenarios positively influence store sales. It highlights a significant opportunity for retailers to use a mix of stores and online presence to boost the bottom line, selling at home and abroad.”
Jacob Aqraou, senior vice president, Europe Middle East & Africa at Ebay added: “This study shows that retailing is not about online versus offline, as they can work well together for customers, as shown by the popularity of Click & Collect. Consumers want the best of both worlds, shopping online and across multiple devices, and picking up or browsing in store. As a retailer, if you don’t reach the consumer across all these channels, you are already missing out on valuable sales which could be hard to recapture in the future.”
