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In-store trumps online for place to shop for Brits

3rd October 2013 Print

Payment Generation Gap, a new analysis of British shoppers’ payments habits carried out by Kalixa Group, a next generation payments company, reveals that Brits of all ages still prefer to shop in-store but want faster payment systems to overcome their number one gripe – long queues.

Encouragement for the troubled high streets

The study analyses the paying habits of 2,126 UK shoppers across all generations and reveals that 81% of shoppers will shop in-store compared to 59% who also do some shopping online. This revelation about the universal popularity of in-store shopping comes in the wake of years of bad news for high streets that have suffered from the explosive growth of out-of-town shopping centers and the recession in recent years.

“To find that in-store shopping remains popular is welcome news. Retailers can aim to turn this healthy underbelly of popularity of in-store shopping into a source for growth, especially on the high street where shops can use new payment methods to quicken purchase times and significantly improve their knowledge about customers,” says Ed Chandler, CEO of Kalixa.

Queue frustrations

Some 60% of the shoppers surveyed cited long queues as their top frustration when shopping. This is a particular issue for Baby Boomers and the older Silent Generation with 69% of them seeing it as an annoyance.

Ed Chandler said: “Shopping should be an enjoyable experience and if queues are causing frustrations, retailers have to look at how they can quicken transaction times. eCommerce is opening the doors to retailers to offer a variety of ways to accept payment in a swift and secure fashion.”

Looking to the future

Two-thirds of the survey respondents think that cash will be a thing of the past for shopping in 2020 and 54% predict that contactless technology will have taken its place. This presents opportunities for retailers to cut queues and offer alternative in-store payment options to increasingly tech-savvy shoppers.

Ed Chandler added: “Quick, simple and secure payments are vital to backing both small businesses and high street retailers. Kalixa is committed to helping fuel this. The high street is where we are seeing pop-up shops, farmers’ markets, street food stalls and all manner of exciting and innovative retailers helping to bring back the buzz back to hard hit high streets. People are largely favouring a more human and tactile shopping experience. Our whole industry must support this trend, through innovative, easy to adopt, trusted and cheap to run payment systems.”