Meet the Struggling Shopper – It’s Not Who You Expect

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Nearly two-fifths of adult shoppers are having trouble buying the basics while covering their bills, our latest shopper research shows. This may be expected, due to a price crisis, but what we didn’t expect was the broad scope of their demographics. Retailers and brands, meet what may be the greatest challenge of 2022: The Struggling ... Read more

Improve the Store Experience Category by Category WSL Has an Index to Help!

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WSL recently asked thousands of shoppers what they value most in a brick-store shopping trip and what makes a good shopping experience. The answers, we learned, vary by category. So we measured how well various retailers deliver what shoppers want, by category, and reported the results in our Retailer Performance Index. Here’s how we do ... Read more

How to Make Shopping an Experience – Category By Category

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Yes, we live in an omni-shopping world, but the store is still part of it. In November 2021 we reported that two-thirds of shoppers went into the store to shop after picking up their online orders; 78% chose to go to the store when they felt energized and upbeat, and half said it was easier ... Read more

The Role of the Store in Retail 5.0 Research Report

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The self-serve store has not changed since the 1950s. Tweaks have been made but the basic format of walking the aisles, squinting at the shelves to find the right item, and then waiting in line to pay has not changed in 3/4 of a century. The pandemic has drawn retailers’ attention to honing online ordering ... Read more

How 3 Big Retailers Link Sustainability to the New WELLness

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For many shoppers, wellness doesn’t end with their minds and bodies; it extends to the entire planet – the air they breathe, the water they drink and the open spaces and oceans that surround them. Our research shows that more shoppers expect companies to accept more responsibility for sustainability. Here are examples of how Dick’s ... Read more

New WSL Research: Shoppers Cutting Back, Not Doing Without

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Our just-released How America Shops® survey synthesizes what shoppers told us about how they are responding to rising prices, and it’s more positive than you might think. Read on to learn where they are trading down on brands, the stores they are willing to sacrifice and the savvy ways they are holding off across categories ... Read more

Is This Latest Pharmacy Trend an Opportunity, or a Threat?

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As pharmacists became distracted by other tasks that took them out-of-sight from behind the counter, shoppers increasingly turned to more accessible sources for advice. Our How America Shops® research explores the growing acceptance of online pharmacies, which challenge retailers to find their way back to their Rx shoppers. Shoppers Want Wellness Advice, But They Won’t ... Read more

Retail Health Care Can Be The Center of WELLness

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During the pandemic, shoppers started turning to retail health clinics to meet rising demand for quick-and-easy WELLness services. Now, their retail expectations have evolved to include convenient health care treatment. This is especially opportunistic for retail clinics and pharmacies, but is the store missing the script? Are You Treating Your Shoppers to the WELLness They ... Read more

You Want to Follow the Shopper Into 2022? Here Are Four Paths

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As 2021 passed the baton to 2022, we at WSL reflected on all the behaviors being passed along as well, and the directions these unfolding paths to purchase will take in 2022. Then we combed through our How America Shops® research and narrowed these paths down to four practices that we deem as Retail Safari® ... Read more

The Human Store: How Hy-Vee, Nordstrom, Victoria’s Secret and Camp Do it

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Among the reinvented retail formats we have seen that meet post-pandemic shopper expectations, few resonate as deeply as the efforts by some retailers and brands to create authentic, human experiences. What does this mean? From our recent Future Shop® podcast, WSL leaders explain what makes a “human store,” with boots-on-the-ground, Retail Safari® examples.  Your Store ... Read more

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