Consumers are embracing an increasing number of devices and touchpoints to shop – this we know and at Forrester we call this the mobile mind shift. But eBusiness professionals still need to figure out the relative influence each touchpoint has on their customers’ shopping behavior in order to determine where to focus their efforts. Should you follow the likes of House of Fraser with a mobile first web presence? How do your customers use your digital presence for research pre-purchase?

Forrester’s new retail segmentation helps eBusiness executives answer these questions by providing a framework to map out the complex ecosystem of touchpoints and devices their customers use to shop. The segmentation identifies increasingly sophisticated multi-touchpoint shopping behaviors and helps eBusiness executives to identify critical touchpoints to create the most relevant shopping experiences for customers across markets.

Our new report focuses on the nuances of shopper behavior across European markets and Martin Gill’s recent report provides a global overview.

Here’s how European shoppers differ:

  • Europeans use digital touchpoints to shop, yet the majority still do not buy online. Just under half of European online adults regularly purchase products online. Another quarter regularly use digital touchpoints to research products and services before purchasing in a physical store. Yet the majority still does not regularly buy products or services online through their PC, laptops, smartphones, tablets, or other digital devices.
  • Southern Europeans adopt multitouchpoint shopping faster than other European markets. Italy and Spain are adopting multitouchpoint shopping faster than most other European markets as their rapid smartphone adoption increases Internet access.
  • eBusiness professionals have an opportunity to drive overall sales using digital touchpoints. Just because people don’t buy online doesn’t mean they aren’t influenced by your digital activities. eBusiness professionals need to bolster the role of digital touchpoints as an influencer of overall purchase behavior, not just online sales.

These reports are part of an ongoing series that call out key nuances in consumer shopping behavior across markets, globally and across Europe, and share examples of how organizations are responding to create seamless cross touchpoint experiences to serve all shopper types. For more insight on how to use Forrester's European retail segmentations to understand complex customer behavior, you can read this new blog post by Martin Gill.