Surf City, Here They Come

A new National Retail Federation study seems to confirm that retailers offering multi-channel shopping opportunities – stores, catalogs and web sites – realized increased sales. The study, called “Channel Surfing: Measuring Multi-Channel Shopping,” found that 34 percent of in-store shoppers responding to the survey looked for or purchased something in the store that they had seen on the retailer's web site. More than half (51 percent) of online shoppers ordered something they'd first seen in a catalog. And 27 percent of online shoppers ordered something they'd first seen in the store.

The study insists that these shoppers also spend more. Consumers who visit a retailer's web site and then buy from the retail store spend 33 percent more on an annual basis than the retailer's typical store-only customers. And consumers who visit a retailer's web site before buying from the catalog spend 20 percent more. Finally, 43 percent of online shoppers also purchase from catalogs, and 59 percent of online shoppers also buy at traditional stores.

The study was produced jointly by NRF, J.C. Williams Group (a retail consulting firm) and BizRate.com, an online marketplace.