Retail Websites Are Powerful Drivers of In-Store Sales, Brand Loyalty, And Customer Satisfaction,...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Retail websites have a major impact on customer satisfaction and brand loyalty while traditional channels are relatively weak on both counts. In addition, the value of the website to the multi-channel retailer's bottom line is far greater than just the online purchases

A surprisingly large proportion of multi-channel shoppers -- 86 percent of those surveyed in the study -- prefer to make purchases offline. Yet this statistic dramatically understates the influence of the web channel. Nearly 40% of multi-channel shoppers prefer to use the web for browsing and researching their purchases. Of this group of people who would typically be viewed as unconverted browsers or "shopping-cart abandoners," 71 percent complete their purchase in the store. In addition, shoppers are consistently less satisfied with the store experience than with the websites of the same multi-channel retailers, suggesting that positive perceptions generated online are being undermined at the point of sale.

"Up to this point, multi-channel retailers had to take a leap of faith that good online experiences fuel offline sales," said multi-channel retail expert and ForeSee Results CEO Larry Freed. "Now the impact of the online shopping experience on in-store sales can be quantified more clearly using customer satisfaction metrics that gauge the role of each channel in providing a more satisfying overall customer experience."

The study surveyed more than 4,000 customers of sixteen top retailers that have significant presence both online and offline. Produced by online satisfaction firm ForeSee Results together with FGI Research, the survey was conducted with a random sample of U.S. consumers from FGI Research SmartPanel(TM), one of the industry's leading online panels.

The survey found that satisfaction of multi-channel shoppers who both browse and buy online is significantly greater than for those who browse and buy in the store. The web-only experience produces an average satisfaction level of 79 (on a 100-point scale), and appears more likely to spur people to become repeat customers and recommenders. By contrast, when people research products online and then buy offline, the average satisfaction score is 74. And those who both browse and buy in a multi-channel retailer's store register a 73.