Merchants’ Best Consumer-Facing Features May Be the Ones They Already Have

Retailers’ customer loyalty offerings may be as much a matter of positioning and promotion as of investing in new digital features.

The Power of Digital Features

Over and over, PYMNTS’ research finds that shoppers have made their digital shopping features preferences clear. The latest PYMNTS/Cybersource collaboration, “2023 Global Digital Shopping Index,” indicates that for merchants, success may be a matter of consumer awareness about what features are already being offered on their site, app or platform.

Having (or lacking) digital features consumers want can make or break a retailer, as these offerings can be a deciding factor in where shoppers choose to spend. Smartphone-accessed apps and other digital tools for making in-store purchases may be especially useful for consumer confidence in their transactions: 87% of consumers use digital features to make purchases, both in-store and online.

Examples of these digital tools increasing customer satisfaction include in-store navigation apps, where U.S. customers who used this feature were 42% more satisfied with their in-store digital offerings than shoppers who hadn’t used the tool.

Another in-store tool consumers found useful was the cross-channel digital profile, which stores their information across channels for easier checkouts. U.S. consumers using this tool were 47% more satisfied with their in-store digital offerings than shoppers who hadn’t.

The Awareness Gap

However, many consumers aren’t aware that these and other digital features driving their merchant preferences are being offered by retailers. This “awareness gap” can make a deep impact on customer satisfaction and has been cited as a driving factor in decreased customer satisfaction last year. In the U.S., for example, shoppers are 28% less likely to know that merchants offer guarantees or refund policies than merchants are to offer them.