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Capgemini Global Report Reveals the Growing Importance of Digital Consumer Engagement but Casts Doubt over Role of Social Media in Shopper JourneysPARIS --(Business Wire)-- A global report by Capgemini, one of the world's foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, reveals that consumers consider social media a less important part of their customer journey - from awareness, through to post-sale activity - compared to two years ago, suggesting that the social media hype in the consumer goods and retail sector has not materialized.1 The second edition of the global "Digital Shopper Relevancy Report"2, which surveyed over 18,000 digital shoppers from 18 countries to provide insight into the changing nature of shoppers' online retail habits, shows that conversely, smartphone shopping has grown in importance over the same period3. The report also highlights that the Internet is now globally the preferred channel to inform retail decisions (over all other channels, including stores), with 75 percent of consumers saying it was important or very important to shopping research. Social media: overhyped? According to the report, compared to 2012, less importance is being placed on following retailers on social media (such as Twitter (News - Alert) and Facebook), finding out about new products through blogs, and participating in online retail customer communities. The responses of global shoppers indicate not only a decline compared with the study two years ago, but also demonstrate that social media is less important to the shopper journey compared with conventional retail store experiences, web, smartphone, email or the use of technologies in-store. Kees Jacobs, Global Digital Proposition Lead, Capgemini Digital Customer Experience comments: "Despite the surge in Facebook's (News - Alert) ad revenues and marketing innovations like Twitter's new 'Buy' button, there is definitely a question mark over where and how 'social' fits into the shopper journey. Social media is most relevant in the 'awareness' and 'choice' phases of shopping journeys (which is especially the case in fashion) but much less in 'transaction, delivery and post-sales'. Our report suggests that retailers still have work to do at every stage of the purchasing journey in order to make social media play a useful, valuable role in buying a product or service." The physical store still reigns for point-of-sale - particularly in mature markets - for now Capgemini's (News - Alert) survey shows that for point-of-sale the physical store is still the favored destination for global shoppers, but only just, with the Internet trailing slightly. When carrying out retail transactions, 72 percent of shoppers see the store as important or very important compared to 67 percent for the Internet. Only 14 percent of shoppers strongly indicate that physical stores have become less important for them. However, in the future, the majority of shoppers (51 percent) say they will spend more money online than in-store. In addition to the smartphone's ubiquitous growth, in-store digital interactions (e.g., via kiosks) are popular among shoppers, suggesting that the introduction of more technology into retail stores would be a welcome shift for the consumer. Digitally savvy, high-growth markets The research reveals that high-growth markets all show a significantly stronger preference for digital technologies than mature markets. For example, when it comes to searching for product information, doing price-comparisons and purchasing products, Brazil, Mexico, India and China all place a much greater importance on the smartphone, social media and in-store technology than all of the mature markets polled. This represents a huge opportunity for brands present in, or expanding into, these regions. High-growth markets are also significantly more interested in receiving personalized offers and recommendations, with India (46 percent), Mexico (40 percent) and Brazil (38 percent) rating them as 'extremely important'. This is in stark ontrast to the equivalent statistics for the UK (13 percent), France (15 percent) and Germany (24 percent). Distrust over use of personal data particularly in mature markets Globally, more than a third of consumers feel they currently are not being provided with clear information from retailers on how their personal data is going to be used. Personal expectations regarding retailers are low: one in four consumers do not expect their favorite retailers to know their history to provide better service, particularly in Canada, Finland, Netherlands and Sweden. While half do trust their favorite retailers to use their personal data responsibly, a third does not agree to their social media data being used by retailers, particularly in the Nordic countries. Brian Girouard, Vice President, Capgemini Consumer Products, Retail and Distribution Sector, comments: "It is clear that a combination of data privacy concerns and apathy toward poorly targeted advertisements in the early days of online marketing has turned consumers in mature markets off personalized offers. Companies need to be more transparent and intelligent than ever about how they engage with customers in order to retain the trust of mature markets and ensure that they don't squander the exciting momentum in high-growth markets." Other key findings from the report include:
Capgemini's research highlighted seven categories of shoppers across the mature and high-growth markets who use digital channels in different ways during their shopping journey: Mature Markets (Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States)
High-Growth Markets (Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Russia)
Girouard concludes: "As customer profiling has become more complex, it's very challenging for retailers and consumer companies to agree on the right strategy to engage their customers online. Most companies are already on their 'digital journey' in some shape or form. However, many are uncertain whether they are truly addressing the changing needs of their consumers, the right priorities or the right initiatives. Capgemini's Digital Shopper Relevancy insights can help retailers and consumer goods companies better understand shopper behavior and deliver a more tailored all-channel experience." About Capgemini With almost 140,000 people in over 40 countries, Capgemini is one of the world's foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services. The Group reported 2013 global revenues of EUR 10.1 billion. Together with its clients, Capgemini creates and delivers business and technology solutions that fit their needs and drive the results they want. A deeply multicultural organization, Capgemini has developed its own way of working, the Collaborative Business ExperienceTM, and draws on Rightshore®, its worldwide delivery model. Learn more about us at www.capgemini.com. Rightshore® is a trademark belonging to Capgemini About the Digital Shopper Relevancy Report This study was conducted for Capgemini by ORC International, a leading global research firm with offices across the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacifica. ORC International surveyed more than 18,000 consumers in 18 countries between May and June 2014: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. All research was carried out in accordance with the UK's Market Research Society (MRS) Code of Conduct. 1 Scores were based on a 1-5 rating with 1 = not at all important and 5 = extremely important. Compared to 2012, the importance of social media in retail awareness fell from 3.09 to 3.02, choice fell from 2.99 to 2.93 and post-sales fell from 2.99 to 2.87. 2 The fourth study in the series from Capgemini, tracking the evolution of shopping from predominantly traditional stores starting in 2002 to the multi-channel experience in 2014. 3 Compared to 2012, smartphones showed a rise in importance for awareness increasing from 2.88 to 3.07, for choice from 2.82 to 3.01, for transactions from 2.81 to 2.94, for delivery from 2.93 to 3.09 and for post-sales from 2.91 to 3.00. 4 A QR Code is a machine-readable code consisting of an array of black and white squares, typically used for storing URLs or other information for reading by a camera on a smartphone.
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