Almost three-quarters of UK millennials still prefer stores to online shopping, according to a retail trends survey, published by brand experience consultancy I-AM. The 2018 Retail Sector Report, entitled ‘The Convergence Continuum, found that 74 per cent of 18 to 35 year-olds still prefer physical stores to online shopping, with 36 per cent favouring shopping malls.
The research also found that 71 per cent of those surveyed want staff to be more knowledgeable, while 49 per cent say the most loved element of the in-store experience is touching and trying things out.
Commenting on the report, I-AM group partner, Pete Champion, says: ‘Both online and offline, people prefer multibrand stores over monobrand ones. Retail has undergone a seismic change in the last decade. Though this has been largely driven by technology, our consumer attitudes to what shopping is and does has shifted dramatically and our needs, platforms and spaces have converged. We no longer shop in specific bursts, rather shopping hums along at our pace of life.
‘Retail has become a continuous chain-reaction of movements, events, experiences and motives. Shopping has become relative – relative to context, person and place, and has moulded into four dimensions of space and time. Shopping is no longer about the what and where, but how and when.’
The survey was conducted among 2,000 18 to 35 year-olds, living in a number of UK cities.
Published: 13 June 2018 on Retail Focus By Gemma Balmford
