Parking, long wait times, travel delays and
smartphones are expected to challenge the Holiday spirit
Nearly three-fourths of the 2,000 consumers surveyed across the
US and UK prefer convenience over price as the key reason why they
would shop online this holiday, according to research from Wipro
Digital, the digital transformation business of Wipro Ltd. (NYSE:
WIT). More than 60% of consumers expect to do their holiday
shopping online, up 10 percentage points from the 50% seen in
2013.
“The large number of consumers choosing convenience over price
as their top reason for shopping online is a reminder that brands
need to compete on experience, not just price,” said Avinash
Rao, Global Head, Wipro Digital. “This Holiday Season, it looks
as if physical stores have not yet done enough to draw consumers
into their stores. Improving the in-store experience, for example
by offering virtual wardrobes side-by-side with displays, could
give consumers a reason to reverse the trend of shopping more
online. Either way, businesses which can deliver experiences based
on deep insight into customer journeys will stand out,” Rao went on
to say.
Nearly 50% of consumers, of the 2,000 who were surveyed, report
they will do both their research and buying online. Neither
“Showrooming” nor “webrooming” are expected to be common this
season with less than 5% of consumers reporting that they will
research in-store and buy online or research online and buy
in-store. However, consumers haven’t abandoned physical stores
entirely: over 80% want to be able to match an in-store promotion
when shopping online, but six in 10 consumers expect difficulty in
doing that.
According to consumers, there are not enough reasons or
incentives to shop in-store. Less than 10% think prices are more
competitive in-store or that the sales staff is knowledgeable and
only slightly more believe physical stores provide a more
personalized experience. Parking is another disincentive with
nearly half expecting to have trouble finding a parking space.
However, shipping charges have the potential to drive more
people back to the store, particularly in the US where this is seen
as a larger concern with online shopping. Shipping costs are
particularly a barrier for consumer goods companies selling direct
to consumers who don’t want to pay for shipping.
“While we see an increase in online shopping at this time of
year, people are still looking for the best ways to combine online
and offline experiences,” says Rao. “Brands that can peel apart all
the interactions that form a customer journey and offer what
customers want are the ones who will succeed not only this holiday
but going forward.”
Convenience continues to play a part of the Holiday travel
experience. While a majority (56%) expects inevitable weather
delays while travelling, a large majority of consumers prefer to
communicate with their travel provider via text or email, including
rebooking. Only one fourth of travellers are happy to call a
toll-free number to rebook. Perhaps that’s due to an expected wait
time of nearly 20 minutes, as seen through the survey.
On the other hand, half of consumers do not mind calling a
toll-free number if it’s for technical support with a new mobile
phone. But for those consumers receiving a new mobile device around
the Holiday time, less than one third think it will be easy to
transfer data between devices. This Holiday Season, smartphones are
expected to make up 80% of mobile device purchases. At the same
time, over 30% of consumers stick with their current plan or device
out of fear of challenges in making a switch.
The research also found that mobile payments are not expected to
be a common payment method this Season with less than 5% using them
– which is the same proportion of people using checks. However,
that represents an increase from last year of nearly one fourth of
consumers. Online banking increases during the Holiday Season
according to one third of those taking part. For those going into a
branch (less than 30%), the main reason is to get fresh and crisp
bills to give as gifts.
Looking ahead, consumers are expecting to wait an average of 20
minutes in line when returning a product at a store. If given the
option to return a gift online, nearly 80% favor this if they can
get an immediate credit. But if they have to wait to receive their
credit, this drops by half.
“As we approach this Holiday Season, we can see that customers
have little patience for brands which can’t offer a joined up
end-to-end experience. When customers expect to move seamlessly
across touch-points, the only way to enable that is to have agile,
customer-centered processes and platforms and to digitize their
operations,” Rao said. “Reimaging how the customer journey is
engineered to serve the customer’s reality is a powerful method to
reshape the organization around the customer. It results in the
creation of breakthrough digital experiences, where the customer
will want to self-serve.”
Methodology
This Pre Holiday Consumer Survey is based on 2,000 online
respondents in the US and UK of ages 18-50 polled from December
8-10, 2014. Wipro Digital will conduct a Post-Holiday Consumer
Survey in January 2015 to compare expectations with actual
experiences.
About Wipro Digital
Wipro Digital collaborates with clients to deliver
customer-centered digital transformation. Working at the
intersection of strategy, design and technology, we derive insight,
shape interaction, drive integration and unlock innovation for our
clients. Drawing on 150,000 employees across Wipro, we engineer
extraordinary experiences for global brands, businesses and their
customers at scale. Learn more at wiprodigital.com or
@WiproDigital.
About Wipro Ltd.
Wipro Ltd. (NYSE:WIT) is a leading information technology,
consulting and business process services company that delivers
solutions to enable its clients to do business better. Wipro
delivers winning business outcomes through its deep industry
experience and a 360 degree view of "Business through Technology" -
helping clients create successful and adaptive businesses. A
company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of
services, a practitioner's approach to delivering innovation, and
an organization wide commitment to sustainability, Wipro has a
workforce of over 150,000, serving clients in 175+ cities across 6
continents. For more information, please visit www.wipro.com.
Forward-looking and Cautionary Statements
Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth
prospects are forward-looking statements, which involve a number of
risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks
and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not
limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our
earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage
growth, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain
our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract
and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on
fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration,
restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our
international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key
focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability
to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions,
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companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of
fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal
restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside
India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property, and general
economic conditions affecting our business and industry. Additional
risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully
described in our filings with the United States Securities and
Exchange Commission. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. We
may, from time to time, make additional written and oral
forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the
company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and
our reports to shareholders. We do not undertake to update any
forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us
or on our behalf.
Wipro Ltd.Gitanjali Sreepal+9180
39918018gitanjali.sreepal@wipro.com
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