Why Is Shopper Satisfaction Declining

For the last 17 years, Zebra's Global Shopper Study has been a great way to test assumptions - and it can also serve as an early warning signal for retailers and industry observers.

This unique study consistently asks shoppers, retail associates (frontline workers) and retail decision-makers (from store managers to executives) questions like these:

• As a shopper, do you like what you're seeing in stores and online?
• As an associate, what would make your job better?
• And as a retail decision-maker, what changes do you foresee in the retail landscape in the next few years?

There are dozens of other studies that track retail spending trends, and maybe a few that ask about shopper preferences. But Zebra's Annual Global Shopper Study is the only one I have found to be a reliable benchmark for shopper, frontline worker, and retailer sentiment on the issues that directly influence retail success.

That's because this study investigates beyond raw data on consumer satisfaction, frontline workers' feelings, and retailers' perceptions. It digs deeper into the causes of year-to-year changes. I look forward to it every year as a key source of retail intelligence. This year was no exception…

Executive Summary: 17th Annual Global Shopper Study

The first thing that stuck out to me this year was declining levels of satisfaction of both shoppers and associates, reversing recent trends where overall sentiment had been improving. I cover that and a few of the other key takeaways in this quick video. (While the video is 10 minutes, it's a far more concise look at the extensive data in the full series of reports, which could easily take hours to comb through.) So, here it goes:

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Other areas you might find compelling are concerns around loss prevention struggles, associate stressors, and shopper frustrations.

Of course, beyond the "what," the next key question is the "why." One paradox the survey highlights is the following:

1. Consumer spending is holding strong and, in some cases, increasing.
2. Retailers say they're investing in more technology to elevate the shopping experience.
3. Yet despite these points, consumer sentiment is falling.

Said another way, retailers are working harder to provide better experiences and shoppers are shopping more, but they are less happy while doing so. Where's the disconnect?

My read of the full results is this: while, yes, retailers have dramatically increased the number of purchase paths and options, one thing that's brought with it is complexity. All this choice and convenience has an undertone of "inconvenience."

From a Shopper Perspective

Some of the conveniences they enjoyed during the pandemic - increased self-checkout options, contactless payment options, easy returns in store (even for online purchases) - are starting to disappear. Because retailers are reporting more losses, they're trying to more tightly control inventory by locking up items and forcing people to an associate to purchase items. But these things are compelling shoppers to abandon their baskets, if they even have items in there, and walk out empty handed. Shoppers have seen how easy it can be to shop and aren't happy with retailers who are trying to take those conveniences away.

What's making matters worse is that retailers aren't properly staffed to open more checkout lanes, more customer service registers, or respond to more customer calls for in-aisle assistance. Time is money, and people know they can go elsewhere and get the same items for the same price, so why wait?

From an Associate Perspective

They cannot conveniently pull up current product or pricing information on their mobile devices when a customer asks for assistance. They must track down a supervisor or colleague for assistance with basic tasks, or to even figure out which tasks they should be focusing on each shift. Which shelves need restocking? Are the shelf labels correct? Where's the product they need to restock? How do they get new labels printed to fix signage and labels?

Many say that information isn't readily available and, if it is, it isn't as accessible as they feel it should be on their mobile devices (if they even have mobile devices to use in this capacity). The fact that associates have no real-time visibility into out-of-stocks unless they physically walk the store to investigate shelf condition or stockroom inventory is a problem. Not only because it's inconvenient for them, but because it negatively impacts shoppers' experiences in many ways. Online orders may not be completely fulfilled, and in-store customers may have to settle with a substitution or else make another stop to get what they need.

Something else associates find inconvenient: Even if they have access to task lists on their devices, they don't always know how to prioritize those tasks as new issues or requests pop up, or they don't always know how to do those tasks. So, they have to chase someone down, which isn't convenient if they can't simply push a button on their headset or mobile device to reach the person who has the answers. Once they know what to do, how much effort does it take to track down products, get new signage or labels printed, and then get them in the right place?

So, communications, task prioritization, and task execution…all very inconvenient for most retail frontline workers right now. They also don't like that they can't be as helpful to customers as they want to be, which is a knock on morale and contributing to shoppers' dissatisfaction with retailers.