Report: 1 in 5 US Consumers Now Shop In-Store the Same Way They Shop Online

Click-and-Mortar™ experiences — where consumers use convenient digital features alongside in-store shopping — are changing retail in the United States. Consumers are beginning to adopt these habits and favor merchants that support seamless transitions between digital and in-store experiences. Despite U.S. merchants’ penchant for offering a large variety of features, some merchants have not yet risen to the occasion.

Although many shoppers want price-matching features, for example, 38% of all U.S. consumers noted they cannot find them — but would use the features if available. This trend, where shoppers want to merge digital conveniences with in-store shopping but cannot find ways to do so, extends to a wide range of digital features. Retailers will need to adapt, or they will underserve the influential and growing demographic of shoppers seeking Click-and-Mortar™ experiences.

For the “2024 Global Digital Shopping Index: U.S. Edition,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and Visa Acceptance Solutions collaboration, we surveyed 2,447 U.S. consumers and 588 merchants to capture trends in U.S. consumer behavior and to document the rise of Click-and-Mortar™ shopping experiences. The study also drew on insights from a larger survey of 13,904 consumers and 3,512 merchants across seven countries conducted from Sept. 27, 2023, to Dec. 1, 2023.

Other key findings from the playbook include the following.

More and more U.S. shoppers rely on digital shopping features.

The U.S. consumer ecosystem has long been a hotbed for innovation in digital solutions and mobile applications. U.S. consumers are highly reliant on a broad range of digital features, with 85% using at least 10 regularly. This reliance has risen 8% since 2022. A little more than one-third of U.S. consumers now leverage most available digital features, outpacing feature usage levels in many of the other regions studied.

Shoppers will switch merchants to use preferred features.

Consumers want shopping to happen on their terms. The features they want include the ability to use a preferred payment method, easy-to-navigate online stores, mobile-compatible sites, product details and stored order history. The stakes are high, as customers may quickly go to competitors if switching means they gain access to these features. In 2023, U.S. consumers showed a clear preference for consistency across their shopping experiences, expecting to use their favorite payment methods every time they shop, wherever they shop.

Consumers have trouble locating some digital shopping features.

While merchants offer many features that consumers want, shoppers often can’t find these features. Educating customers about features is a key area of improvement for U.S. merchants. U.S. consumers use features at a rate only topped by India. The most tech-savvy consumers find and use the features they want, leading to higher shopping satisfaction from Click-and-Mortar™ experiences. Still, data showed that the general consumer can struggle to find available features.

There is still room to improve the offerings themselves. U.S. merchants typically offer a broad spectrum of 25 digital features. Still, on average, they fail to provide nearly one-fifth of the features consumers are looking for. Download the report to learn how merchants can better serve the growing set of Click-and-Mortar™ shoppers.