New research shows that retailers could improve on executing on new innovations in e-commerce. For example, 79% of retail executives believe chatbots are meeting consumer needs, according to an Oracle NetSuite survey of 1,200 consumers and 400 retail executives released in January. However, consumers disagree. Two thirds (66%) of consumers disagree, with many saying that chatbots are more damaging to the shopping experience than helpful.

It’s a similar tale with stores and social media. For example, 73% of retail executives believe that the overall environment in retail stores has become more inviting in the past five years. However, only 45% of consumers agree. And 19% of shoppers think stores have become less inviting.

2024 Leading Vendors to the Top 1000 Retailers Report

Analysis of the leading vendors that serve North America's Top 1000 online retailers. Includes rankings of the Top 10 leading vendors across 24 categories, including Customer Relationship Management, Ecommerce Platforms, Fulfillment Services, Marketing Automation Platforms, and more.

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Additionally, almost all (98%) of retail executives think that engaging with customers on social media is important to building stronger relationships with them, while only 12% of consumers think it has a significant impact on the way they think or feel about a brand.

Consumers also want better personalization—and some are willing to pay for it. 80% of consumers do not feel they are provided with a personalized shopping experience both in-store and online, despite almost half of consumers (42%)—and almost two thirds of millennials (63%)—noting that they would pay more for improved personalization, according to the study.

The Oracle NetSuite research suggests retailers might need help in implementing more complex e-commerce technologies. For example, only 11% of retail executives believe that their staff has the tools and information needed to give consumers a personalized experience. That suggests there is a gap between consumer demand for improved personalization and retailers’ ability to deliver on it.

The report also finds:

• 80% of retail executives believe that consumers would feel more welcome if in-store staff interacted with them more. But fewer than half (46%) of consumers agree, and 28% say they would feel more annoyed if store staff did so.
• 58% of consumers are uncomfortable with the way stores use technology to improve personalization in their shopping experience, and 45% reported negative emotions when they receive personalized offers online.
• 53% of shoppers felt negative emotions the last time they visited a store.
• Nearly all (90%) retail executives are not confident that the use of advanced technologies to customize the shopping experience is meeting consumers’ needs.
• 79% of retailer executives believe having virtual reality and artificial intelligence in stores will increase sales. However, only 14% of consumers believe the technologies will have a significant impact on their purchase decisions.
• Almost all (98%) retail executives believe VR and AI will increase foot traffic. Meanwhile, 48% of consumers do not think VR or AI would have any impact on how likely they are to go into a store.
• Nearly all (97%) of consumers agree there is a need to go into a physical store to purchase items and the majority (70%) believe the most appealing retail stores have features that simplify and streamline the shopping experience.
• The top features attracting consumers to physical stores are: options consistent with those online (36% selected this answer), simpler store layouts (35%), staff’s ability to place orders on mobile devices (29%) and in-store kiosks that allow consumers to purchase products that are unavailable in store (23%).
• The top technology advancements that consumers want to utilize when shopping in a store or online are self-checkout kiosks (38%), virtual reality try-on (23%) and mobile payments (15%). Only 5% of consumers selected robots and chatbots as the technologies they most want to utilize.