Diving deeper into consumers’ shopping and behaviour trends, some shifts were evident from the prior survey, conducted early in 2022. When asked about their shopping frequency (daily, weekly, etc.) over the last 12 months across different channels, consumers in the present survey still chose shopping in-store as the most popular channel, holding steady at 43%. Use of mobile phones and smartphones was next (34%), followed by PCs (23%).

In a nutshell, many of the trends that got supercharged in the depths of the covid crisis, which is still ongoing in many parts of the world, have unwound. In-store shopping has rebounded. But the data also shows that the long-term growth trends remain intact. Looking ahead, when consumers were asked about how their spending and shopping behaviour might change in the next six months, 43% said they plan to increase online shopping, down from 50% in our last survey. At the same time, plans to increase shopping in physical stores dropped significantly, too, from 33% to 23%. 

Perhaps most important, what people expect and experience in all shopping environments—physical and digital—is changing. And it’s incumbent on market participants to meet consumers in both physical and digital spaces—and to meet their changing expectations. As is evident throughout the survey, consumers are saying that they want the physical shopping experience to be enhanced, facilitated or mediated by digital technologies: call it Phygital.

Asked to rank what factors would most enhance their in-store shopping experiences, 27% of respondents put access to knowledgeable and helpful sales associates on top—with half of Baby Boomers ranking that as the leading factor. At the same time, 16% of all respondents said the ability to use self-service checkout kiosks was their most-favoured attribute, followed closely by in-store use of a retailer’s website or mobile app to browse for particular products (15%). Next, at 12%, was the ability to use retailers’ “scan-and-go” devices and apps.

Digital environments are evolving, whether it’s the continuing rollout of 5G or the integration of shopping into social media apps. And so, a great deal of attention is being paid to what may be the next large-scale digital platform: the metaverse, which promises to erase many of the frictions between the digital world and the physical world. But the metaverse is still very much in its infancy, and is riven by its own set of frictions. As the PwC report Demystifying the metaverse concluded: ‘The metaverse is an evolution, not a revolution. And it’s one that business leaders should not ignore.’

Our survey finds that various components of the metaverse are already available and being explored by consumers. Just more than one-quarter said they have participated in metaverse-related activities in the last six months for entertainment, virtual experiences or purchasing products (26%). For example, 10% have used a VR headset to play games or watch a movie, or for work-related activities. Nearly as many said they’ve experienced a retail environment or a concert virtually or they've purchased an NFT, or non-fungible token (both 9%). 

Use of the metaverse varies widely by age and across countries. Not surprisingly, the younger the person, the more likely they are to engage with the metaverse. Demographically, young Millennials (36%) and Gen Z (31%) are the top metaverse users, while only 8% of Baby Boomers and 6% of the Greatest Generation cohort have used it. And the countries with the highest percentage of respondents who said they had used the metaverse in the past six months were India (48%) and Vietnam (43%)—countries with young populations and growing middle classes.

*the latest Global Consumer Insights Pulse Survey, conducted in December 2022 among 9,180 consumers across 25 territories.

Source : www.pwc.com