HIGH POINT – According to a survey from e-commerce technology firm Lightspeed, omnichannel retailers are outperforming those who operate solely through e-commerce or brick-and-mortar.
“Before COVID, the viability of brick-and-mortar’s future was in question,” said Lightspeed CEO JP Chauvet. “When COVID hit, physical-only retailers accelerated e-commerce strategies years into the future, leading many to believe it may have sped up the anticipated demise of brick-and-mortar. But consumers coming out of lockdown want to shop in-store, while also shopping at home.”
The survey, which polled retailers of various products from around the world, found that omnichannel retailers outperformed overall (61% in the U.S.), celebrating the largest year-over-year revenue growth vs. just e-commerce merchants (47%) and brick-and-mortar merchants (41%).
Here are some other key findings:
- Retailers are coping with labor shortages by operating with less staff than needed (32%), increasing wages/benefits to attract/retain staff (18%) and being open fewer hours due to staffing limitations (12%).
- 63% of consumers felt supporting local, independent business was either important or very important, with 37% planning to shop local more often in 2022.
- 74% said technology adoption had a positive impact on their business over the past two years.
- A majority of survey respondents (60%) also affirmed that shoppers have become less patient since the pandemic.
- Nearly half of all American and Canadian retailers reported higher revenue in 2021 over 2020, with 12% in the U.S. saying it was significantly higher.
- Sales channels like social media and online marketplaces also played a critical role in sales growth throughout 2021. Among the top sales channels where merchants are seeing growth, Google and Facebook took the top two spots with sales growth nearly equal across regions, while Instagram came in a close third place.
- An average of 39% of consumer survey respondents reported they’ll shop mostly in-store over the next six months compared with just 23% for e-commerce. This indicates growing recovery to, but not quite matching yet, pre-pandemic levels, as 50% of customers shopped in-store in 2019. However, while consumers may be planning to shop more in-store, they’re planning to shop less overall. About 30% of consumer survey respondents said they plan to shop less overall in 2022 vs. only 10% who plan to shop more.
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Robert Dalheim, senior editor of case goods and global sourcing, has been writing about the woodworking industry and business news since 2015. He is a graduate of Northern Illinois University with degrees in journalism and political science. Contact Bobby at [email protected] or by calling (336) 605-3815.
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