Customers want High Street service levels from etailers

Just over a third of UK shoppers would buy more online if customer service and access to advice and support were improved, according to a study.

An online poll undertaken among 2,107 adults by YouGov on behalf of online merchandising software supplier Avail Intelligence revealed that three out of 10 consumers still prefer shopping on the high street because they believed that customer care was better (47%) and they were more likely to receive quality help and guidance (35%).

Pontus Kristiansson, chief executive and co-founder of Avail, said: "It’s clear that shoppers would spend more online if they had access to the recommendations and advice they currently get when visiting a physical store. The challenge for retailers is offering that without impacting their cost base so much so that it takes away the benefit consumers see in terms of lower prices online."

A huge 61% of respondents said that prices were lower online compared with only 5% that said it was cheaper to shop on the high street. Just over half pointed out that they had access to a wider range of products online compared with a mere 13% who felt that the choice in bricks-and-mortar stores was better and easier to find (14%).

Some 22% of those questioned said that they would only spend more online if customer care was improved, however. About 14% wanted to see lower prices, 12% were keen to have better advice and support and one in ten said that product information should be enhanced.

As a result, in order to ensure that customers had the best of both worlds, Kristiansson recommended that retailers do more to create a consistent shopping experience, for example, by introducing web-enabled kiosks to provide shoppers with access to a wider range of products that they could purchase in-store.