Understanding how consumers incorporate digital technology into the retail experience is the focus of the latest Delvinia Dig report, being released today.

The Social Shopper: A Lens into the Future of Retail Experiences highlights seven major trends around the use of digital technology in the purchase process and examines what retailers and product manufacturers should be doing to court digitally-savvy shoppers.

“As we all know, the Internet and social media have created a landscape where consumers are a more significant force than ever before,” says Delvinia C.E.O. Adam Froman. “As part of our culture to play, learn and grow, we wanted to better understand the consumer-retailer relationship so we asked ourselves: How can retailers and manufacturers leverage digital media to create effective customer experiences?”

While it remains true that digital behaviours vary from product to product, and from person to person, the data provides the following insights into consumer behaviour:

– Sixty-one per cent of shoppers surveyed research products online prior to making a purchase. And, they do so at least 50 per cent of the time.

– Sixty-five per cent of Canadian shoppers look for consumer reviews and recommendations while researching online, this is second only to price.

– One in five Canadian smartphone owners use their phones to search for product recommendations while shopping.

– One third of smartphone owners have used their phones to take pictures of a product while shopping.

“This report provides a perspective for retailers to look at their customers in a new way,” Froman says, adding, “We conduct these proprietary surveys as part of our ongoing effort to understand the digital behaviours of Canadians. This report, along with our other profiling data, is the foundation of our unique approach to developing effective digital customer experiences.”

To download the complete Delvinia Dig report on the consumer use of digital technology and the future of retail experiences, visit www.delvinia.com/digreport/.

A webinar based on this report will be held at 2 p.m. on March 10. To register, visit https://delviniainter.webex.com/delviniainter/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=933639922.