Omnichannel 
Multi-Screen Experience

Shoppers around the world now expect omnichannel, multi-screen experiences from brands and retailers, with the average global consumer using a total of five devices when making a purchase - a significant increase from the 2.8 devices reported in 2014, a new DigitasLBi’s 2015 Connected Commerce study reveals.

The study likewise shows that in 2015, shoppers are increasingly comfortable going beyond the traditional e-commerce experience to embrace mobile commerce, with 68% of Chinese respondents saying they have made a mobile purchase in the last 30 days.

Products and services that allow this new breed of connected consumer to act on impulse are also proving popular. The survey shows that in-store pick-up is becoming a particular favourite of shoppers, with 51% taking advantage of ‘click and collect’ services globally.

“Customers want to save time and money while being able to choose from more ways to shop than ever before. Mobile is now the platform of choice for shoppers, with nearly 90% of those surveyed regionally stating that using the device to compare prices has changed the way they shop,” said Roy Capon, APAC CEO of DigitasLBi.

According to DigitasLBi’s Connected Commerce survey, personalising the shopping experience is the surest way to consumer’s pocket.

Eighty-three percent of Hong Kong respondents claim they buy more and/or more often when met with personalised retail experiences. A further 27% actively look for personalised offers when shopping online and 75% log in to e-commerce websites that cater for their personal preferences based on previous behavior.

The demand for personalisation goes beyond the online experience, with 86% of shoppers admitting they are more likely to embrace new in-store technologies such as GPS and WiFi tracking if they receive customized benefits in return, such as personalised money-off vouchers.

"Personalising the shopping experience and tailoring it to the needs of individual shoppers is a sure-fire way to attract more customers and boost profits both online and in-store,” said Capon. “But we are just at the start of this journey. The in-store experience needs to become more agile, more digital and more connected. Retailers need to get smarter about using data in order to personalise the shopping experience to increase sales performance.”

StarHub’s Smart Integrated Experiences & Analytics (SIENA) platform has helped many retailers in providing Real-Time, Actionable Analytics, to help profile the target audience, before helping retailers to send contextual messages to the targeted shoppers.

The study also shows that social media is influencing an increasing number of purchases both on and offline. Overall, Facebook is leading the way with 67% of Hong Kong users now admitting that the social network impacts the way they shop. This compares to 62% for YouTube, 41% for Instagram, 27% for Twitter, and 60% for Weibo China. Marrying social profiling into the overall customer analytics will also provide a much richer profile of the end-customer, something which a lot of retailers in Singapore are starting to evaluate with the help of StarHub’s Customer360 platform.

The study covers a total of 17 countries and regions, up from 12 last year. Countries and regions taking part are Australia, Belgium, Mainland China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, UAE, the UK and the USA.

The 2015 survey was conducted online by IFOP from 5-25 March with a sample size of 1,000 web users per country aged 18 and over using the quota method (gender, age, income or social profile and region).

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