New research highlights importance of strong multi-channel communications

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New research into the retail sector has revealed some interesting statistics regarding UK consumers. The researched surveyed 1,500 consumers nationwide and asked questions relating to shopping habits, customer service, marketing, trust and online shopping amongst others.

Conducted by marketing and data specialist The Read Group, the research found that the nation's favourite retailers in terms of market penetration were Tesco and Amazon with over 74% of UK adults making purchases with these retailers every year.

Consumers thought that John Lewis offered the best customer buying experience, followed by Amazon then Laura Ashley. Other retailers scoring highly for customer  service included Hotel Chocolat, Richer Sounds, Bose and online retailer Firebox.

Although the research showed that consumers shopped most frequently in supermarkets over any other type of retailer, only 14% of consumers said they liked buying food online. The Read Group said that this suggested that supermarkets needed to improve and personalise the online food buying process to compete with shoppers' desire  to touch, smell and see the food products they buy.

The research indicated that retailers have some way to go when it comes to sending relevant communications to consumers, particularly with regard to their multi-channel communications strategy. Only 6% of consumers felt the marketing communications they received were targeted and appropriate.

When it came to the question of trust, High Street stores came out on top with 39% of consumers trusting them most with their customer data. This was closely followed by the Superstores with 37%. In contrast, voucher sites, mail order companies and online retailers were least trusted. Consumers were shown to be are increasingly aware of data security but lacked overall confidence in the way their data was managed by retailers. 

Mark Roy, Chair of the DMA Data Council and CEO of The Read Group, said: "British retailers are facing an unprecedented onslaught, yet in the minds of consumers the channel remains desirable and important. An inexorable desire for consumers to interact with a product means that increasing and driving store traffic across multiple retail channels has never been more important. Success in the sector will depend on how retailers exploit new data intelligence techniques, how they communicate across marketing channels and by the standard of the services that they deliver." 

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