Click here to download the full report.
Our word of the year is “mobile.” Mobile is continuing its takeover of online browsing and shopping, but also making new headway into payments and search, as consumers make friends with Siri, Cortana, and Alexa. As shopping devices get smaller, an easy purchase process becomes a necessity, which is why retailers are amp-ing up their mobile site experience, and even offering a one-click buy option. This frictionless shopping experience is also advancing thanks to increasing options for mobile payments.
Perhaps unexpectedly, as shopping becomes more mobile, the store will become more important. Consumers are combining forces of bricks and clicks, in order to get the best of both worlds on their path to purchase. As a result, customer service will move back into the spotlight, after years of being on the back burner in the wake of online shopping. While e-commerce offers convenience, shoppers have been yearning for a more human element, and retailers are responding. Despite the evolution of the purchase process, it seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same.