Relief for retailers

People still like the experience of shopping. Photo / Janna Dixon

Online shopping may not be threatening high-street retailers as much as they thought.

Retailers' frustration that consumers were researching products in-store then buying them online prompted loyalty scheme Fly Buys to do a survey.

It discovered that while 73 per cent of Kiwis do research in-store, the same number make purchases there as well.

Conversely, half of shoppers use the internet to research a product and 52 per cent of those buy the item in-store.

The survey found only one in 10 consumers bought solely online, while 18 per cent bought online and in-store equally.

Fly Buys chief executive Lance Walker said it showed New Zealanders still liked the experience of shopping.

"We know online is becoming more and more of a channel for purchasing.

"[The research] was really trying to get a feel for how much that has changed the retail psyche."

While items such as books, music and travel did well online, people liked to be able to touch and feel goods such as clothing.

"We're a long way from saying there's been a structural shift from retail to online."

Of those who prefer to buy in-store, 30 per cent say this is because of price, 23 per cent say they get a better customer experience and another 23 per cent cite convenience, according to the survey.

James McComb, online communications manager for appliance retailer Noel Leeming, said the research was useful but the figures weren't compared with an earlier period so it wasn't possible to see how much things had changed.

"We know for absolutely dead sure that the trend is definitely towards online," said McComb.

"It's growing at an accelerated rate against any other trend in the marketplace."

British-born McComb said he noticed a big difference in habits of shoppers in Britain and New Zealand.

"The natural thing to do in the UK is to search, find, click, buy and have it delivered.

"New Zealand just hasn't caught on to that yet."