What Channels Are Different Types Of Multichannel Shoppers Using And Why?

Posted on 19 October 2009 by Patrick Flanagan 1 Comment

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Masha Sajdeh of Arc Worldwide presented a great piece of brand new multichannel research at the In-Store Marketing Expo that took place here in Chicago last week. This studies methodology and sample was a solid:

• 3 countries
• 5,609 respondents
• 60 minute online survey
• 20 categories of products examined
• 10 unique channels probed

The entire Arc multichannel study is worth a careful read, but due to it’s length (57 pages) we’ll only examine a few portions that pertain to better understand which channel different types of multichannel shoppers are using and why.

For those not familuar with the concept of what multichannel shopping is all about, this is a great visual explanation.

So first let’s examine a few of the insights uncovered around how much time different multichannel shoppers spend per channel on a monthly basis.  Surprisingly, the circular is the channel that showed the highest usage across all of the different types of mutlichannel shoppers (excluding a retailer’s own web site and store).

Note how the circular across all types of multichannel shoppers plays a critical role in adding the shopping process.

If we take a closer look at just the medium and heavy mutlichannel shoppers, the picture becomes even more stark. A retailer’s own web site and physical store are used heavily and fairly equally by both types.  However the usage pattern around circulars is very different with heavy multichannel shoppers (arguable the most desirable and profitable type of shopper) using the circulars 95% of the time, which is higher than the retailer’s own web site.  Even the more moderate mutlichannel shoppers are using the circulars at pretty hefty rates of 61%, which when again compared to a retailer’s own web site usage of 69% clearly demonstrates the continued importance of the circular to multichannel shoppers.

Wow, circulars are nearly as used by heavy multichannel shoppers as a retailers own physical stores!

Finally let’s try to get to the bottom of the ‘why’ – in this case, the ‘why’ is what causes these multichannel shoppers to use which channel when.  Not surprising, circulars are all about saving money.  Catalogs on the other hand are all about providing shoppers with inspiration.

Every single channel has a unique use and value proposition to a multichannel shopper.