Good morning Marketer, will customers return to stores when it’s time to open back up?
Surveys seem to suggest that customers will be hesitant. But foot traffic from regions that have already opened up seems to indicate that the novelty of in-store shopping will bring people back.
A survey from the Washington Post and the University of Maryland found that while a majority of consumers (56%) are comfortable shopping in a grocery store, 67% aren’t comfortable with the idea of going into a retail clothing store and 78% don’t want to go into a restaurant for a sit-down meal.
Another survey from Fluent found that only 34% of respondents said they were comfortable with governors lifting stay-at-home restrictions. Yet another, seemingly contrary finding in the survey is that 60% of the audience is “calm and collected or neutral” about COVID-19, while 38% are “nervous or very nervous.”
The bottom line? People will go back into stores – but it’s a waiting game until then. The retailers that are able to provide an integrated, omnichannel experience will have advantages over pure-play digital commerce marketers.
There’s more below, including LinkedIn news that could be useful for businesses planning to take live, in-person events online.
Taylor Peterson,
Deputy Editor
