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Do customers really see online and in-store as one experience?
New research with 2,000 UK consumers reveals why online and in-store shopping still feel disconnected and what retailers should examine.
New research with 2,000 UK consumers reveals why online and in-store shopping still feel disconnected and what retailers should examine.
Retailers have spent years connecting stores, ecommerce platforms, customer data, loyalty programmes and fulfilment operations. But investment alone does not make an experience feel connected.
Our new research with 2,000 UK consumers found that 36% still regard online and in-store shopping as separate experiences. Only 11% see them as one connected journey, while 23% say their experience depends on the retailer.
This is the gap at the heart of omnichannel retail. A business may have connected its platforms, processes and data, but customers can only judge the experience placed in front of them.
Customers are unlikely to notice the integration work happening behind a retail experience. They notice whether they can find the product they want, understand when it will arrive and resolve a problem without starting again.
The connection between channels becomes visible through practical questions:
When these moments work, the journey feels considered. When they fail, each channel starts to resemble a separate business.
That distinction matters because customers do not organise their shopping around a retailer’s operating model. They may research online, inspect a product in store, compare prices on their phone and complete the purchase later at home. The experience is assessed across the entire journey, even when responsibility for it is divided between ecommerce, operations, technology, CRM and store management.
The growth of ecommerce has not made stores irrelevant. Seventy per cent of consumers in our research had shopped in a physical store during the previous three months.
Stores continue to provide things that digital channels cannot always replicate: the ability to inspect a product, take it home immediately, speak to someone and remove uncertainty before buying.
That makes the relationship between online and in-store retail more commercially important, not less.
A customer who checks stock online before visiting a shop expects that information to be accurate. Someone collecting an order expects the store to recognise the purchase. A shopper asking for help expects the colleague assisting them to have enough context to solve the problem.
The store can strengthen the digital journey, and the digital journey can make the store more effective. But only when information, promises and service remain consistent between them.
Many omnichannel failures become apparent after the customer has chosen a product.
Unexpected delivery charges were selected by 42% of respondents as a reason to abandon a purchase, while 31% selected delivery delays. These are not simply logistics problems. They shape how customers judge the retailer and whether the earlier stages of the journey were worth the effort.
A polished website cannot compensate for delivery costs revealed at the final stage. Accurate product information loses its value when the promised date moves after checkout. Convenient collection becomes inconvenient when order status is unclear or store colleagues cannot locate the purchase.
Retailers therefore need to assess delivery as part of the customer experience, with the same attention given to product discovery, merchandising and checkout.
Connecting customer data is often presented as a route to more relevant experiences. But consumers are not automatically persuaded by personalisation.
Twenty-seven per cent of respondents said they did not want retailers to use their data for personalisation at all. That does not mean every form of personalisation will be rejected. It shows that retailers must make the value exchange clearer.
Customers are more likely to recognise the benefit when their information saves time, prevents repetition or produces a relevant reward. The value is harder to see when data use feels invisible, intrusive or weighted towards the retailer.
The same principle applies to AI. Adding intelligent technology to an already inconsistent journey will not make it coherent. Retailers need to establish where AI can remove effort, improve the accuracy of information or support employees, while retaining transparency and access to human help.
The findings suggest that omnichannel progress should not be assessed solely through completed integrations or launched capabilities.
Retailers also need to examine what customers can experience:
This requires collaboration across functions. No single team controls the full journey, but the customer still experiences the combined outcome.
The strongest omnichannel strategies begin with that external view. They identify the moments where uncertainty appears, trace those moments back to their operational causes and prioritise changes that customers will notice.
The fact that 36% of consumers still see online and in-store shopping as separate experiences should prompt an honest assessment.
Retailers have invested heavily in the technology required to connect channels. The next test is whether those connections improve the experience in recognisable ways.
The Omnichannel Illusion examines where retail journeys continue to break down, what consumers expect from delivery, loyalty, personalisation and AI, and where retailers should focus their attention.
Download The Omnichannel Illusion
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