Zebra’s 11th annual Global Shopper Study reflects shoppers, associates and decision makers

Zebra Technologies Corporation has revealed the results of its 11th annual Global Shopper Study, analyzing the attitudes, opinions, and expectations of shoppers, retail associates, and retail decision makers.

The results show that two-thirds (66%) of surveyed associates believe that if they are equipped with tablets, they could provide better customer service and improve the shopping experience.

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Fifty-five percent of surveyed retail store associates agree that their company is understaffed, and nearly one-half (49%) feel overworked. Store associates cite frustration with their inability to assist customers, as 42% find they have little time to help shoppers because of pressure to get other tasks completed. Another 28% claim that it’s difficult to get information to help shoppers. Most surveyed retail decision makers (83%) and store associates (74%) agree shoppers can have a better experience with technology-equipped sales associates.

Meanwhile, only 13% of surveyed shoppers completely trust retailers to protect their personal data, the lowest level of trust among 10 different industries. Seventy-three percent of surveyed shoppers prefer flexibility to control how their personal information is used.

“Our study reveals shopper expectations are on the rise,” said Jeff Schmitz, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Zebra Technologies. “While retailers are addressing fulfillment challenges, they also need to provide a more trusted, personalized shopping experience that gives customers what they want, when, where, and how they want it.”

The study also identified diverging expectations on the impact of automation between retailers and store associates. Nearly 80% of retail decision makers – compared to 49% of store associates – agree that staff checkout areas are becoming less necessary due to new technologies that can automate checkout. Also, more than one-half of retail decision makers (52%) are converting point-of-sale (POS) space to self-checkout, and 62% are transforming it for online order pickup.

More than one-half of shoppers (51%) believe they are better connected with their smartphones than store associates. Retailers are investing in edge technologies to combat this gap. Nearly 60% of retailers plan to increase their spend on handheld mobile computers by more than six percent, and more than one-in-five retailers (21%) plan to spend greater than 10% on rugged tablets over the next three years.

Key regional findings

Asia-Pacific
Sixty-two percent of retail associates view their employer more positively if provided with a mobile device for work-related activities.
Nearly half (49%) of retail associates say that mobile point of sale (mPOS) devices help them do their job better.

Europe and the Middle East
Seventy-four percent of decision makers agree that increased e-commerce is driving more interest in fulfillment solutions and warehouse investments. More than three-quarters (76%) of retail decision makers agree that accepting and/or managing returns of online orders is a significant challenge.

Latin America
Both shoppers (59%) and store associates (67%) believe that shoppers are better connected to consumer information than store associates. Ninety-nine percent of retail IT decision-makers believe they need better inventory management tools to ensure accuracy.

Survey background and methodology
Zebra’s 11th annual Global Shopper Study included approximately 4,725 shoppers, 1,225 retail associates and 430 decision-makers from North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East who were interviewed in October - November 2018 by Qualtrics.