Help Me Shop

Shoppers are primarily interested in in-store technology if it “makes shopping faster, easier and more economical,” according to a report from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.

The study, “Creating the Ideal Shopping Experience: What Consumers Want in the Physical and Virtual Store” conducted with KPMG, said 63 percent of the survey's respondents said they'd appreciate, for example, hand-held scanners that perform price checks.

The report also states that 82 percent of respondents like to use more than one channel to research new merchandise. But when shopping online, more than half think web sites should offer expert product ratings. A huge majority of shoppers say they want to know that there's human help available. And almost 80 percent said they must have toll-free telephone access to customer service.