Thankfully, in 2022, many restrictions forced upon us by the global pandemic have been removed. After the huge growth of online shopping in 2020 and 2021, the long-term effects of the change were perhaps not as dramatic as some analysts forecast. According to NRF, retailers saw an unexpected surge of in-store shoppers this Thanksgiving holiday. More than 122.7 million people visited brick-and-mortar stores over the weekend, up 17% from 2021. 

Alongside this, the number of online shoppers also grew, albeit at a slower pace. This year saw 130.2 million online shoppers, a 2% increase over 2021. The prediction that many experts made that we had raced ahead to a future in which online shopping was a far larger part of our lives and budgets may have been somewhat premature.

Why do we see a return to in-store shopping?

It isn’t hard to see why people return to stores and malls. It’s time to pack away the pandemic sweatpants we quickly purchased online, with little thought other than color and size. After all, who was going to see them? 

We are back in the office and restaurants and going to parties and peoples’ houses. And they are coming to ours. We want to take more time and care with our purchases, especially when it comes to apparel, home items, and gifts. We want to try products on, touch and feel them, and experience them in real life before we click “add to cart.”

And, for many people, going shopping is a pleasure and a pastime. They enjoy the buzz of excitement they get from entering a busy store full of their favorite products. They want to share the experience with family, friends, and even similar-minded strangers. And don’t forget, the experience goes beyond shopping, with many large stores, main streets, and malls providing additional events and activities for people to share and enjoy, particularly during the holiday season.

How can online shopping possibly compete with all of that? 

For online retailers, it means the stakes have never been higher. e-commerce heavyweights, including Etsy and Shopify, have posted unexpectedly low sales growth or low expectations for the near future. What can they do to turn the tide and bring some of the magic of Christmas shopping online?

Where is the fun of shopping online?

During the pandemic, online retailing was given an unprecedented advantage against in-store shopping. The rise in physical shopping now that we are all allowed out again has highlighted the deficiencies in online retailing. The main one is — it isn’t quite as fun. 

Most people shop online to get better deals or to save time. Recent data from Nielsen shows convenience is the top reason people shop online. Universally though, an online transaction is rarely seen as memorable or meaningful — and it doesn’t include beautiful Christmas lights decorating Main Street either.

Online retailers talk a lot about personalization as a benefit. While this can mean allowing consumers to add images or monograms to products, more often, personalization means using data to promote tailored, relevant products with the right discounts at the right time. While tailored recommendations and saving money are valuable, they’re not experiences consumers often remember.

In a store, personalization means something more, well, personal. It’s having a sales associate understand my style and energy and make meaningful suggestions based on how I react to what I am being shown. 

However, consumers who shop both online and in-store are retailers’ most valuable consumers, spending 4-6 times as much as single-channel shoppers. A recent report by Coresight Research highlighted that department stores are expected to increase the number of hybrid customers by using personalization to engage consumers online through social selling, digital styling, virtual consultations, and live streaming. 

Bringing Christmas joy to online retailing

Fortunately, online retailers still have something on their side to help them compete with in-store shopping — technology. Several examples of incredibly clever websites enable people to try clothes on virtually or mix and match homeware and furniture in virtual showrooms.

How often have you wanted to try something on, but they don’t have your size or the color you want? This frustrating occurrence is less frequent online. Can you rearrange furniture and other items in a store to match your space? Nope. but you can online. This interactivity can be engaging and fun. You could even get feedback from friends by screen sharing to create your own online shopping watch party!

A recent Dimensional Research study found that retailers are embracing a new era for product visuals via Computer Generated Imagery (CGI). Instead of relying solely on traditional photo shoots, companies can now opt for CGI photography of their products. A CGI picture is a virtual photo that provides all shapes, details, colors, and reflections on a 3D image;  it looks so realistic most people won’t be able to tell it from a photo. According to the study, most (87%) companies see them as necessary technologies to deliver their product visualization strategy.

Without the advantage of a global pandemic, online retailing has to work to deliver magical experiences. Thankfully, a plethora of innovative tools are there to help. Consumers want choice, and with technology on its side, e-commerce will continue to be an essential part of the total shopping experience. 

As Vice President of Strategic Accounts at Nfinite, Jeff Griffin helps drive both the growth of Fortune 50 CPG brands, and the creation of entirely new digital merchandising and advertising platforms in the world’s largest global retailers. Prior to joining nFinite, Griffin helped lead the creation of new interactive in-store media and mobile consumer engagements, including the world’s largest digital place-based media network, the world’s largest mobile proximity network, and the nation’s first national beacon-enabled digital place-based network. Griffin has also held sales management and marketing management roles at P&G, Nestle, Nabisco, and Kelloggs. Griffin holds an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.