Consumers seek ‘smoother and safer’ shopping experience, research reveals

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More than 40% of Brits want their shopping experience to evolve to require as little human interaction as possible, new research reveals.

Contactless payment

The study by shopping app Ubamarket reveals 34% of consumers believe that the self-checkouts cause significant anxiety due to hygiene concerns and proximity to other shoppers.

In addition, 62% of respondents said they want to be able to complete their supermarket shop and exit the store in under 20 minutes.

The research also shows that 50% of people in Britain haven’t used cash at all since the start of lockdown and have relied exclusively on card and contactless payments.

Meanwhile, 40% of Brits will no longer use cash when shopping or in bars or restaurants due to concerns around the transfer of germs, the research discovered.

Will Broome, chief executive of Ubamarket, said: “The research clearly shows that the Coronavirus pandemic has completely transformed the way in which British consumers want to purchase their goods and enjoy the experience of dining or drinking in bars, pubs and restaurants.

“Whilst the Coronavirus raised huge hygiene and safety concerns which destroyed consumer confidence, it also highlighted a number of pre-exisiting problems with the shopping experience in Britain, and now a huge proportion of Brits feel that their shopping experience is outdated. Now, the question facing businesses is not ‘when will things go back to normal’, but rather ‘how can we adapt to succeed and serve customers in a post-Covid world?’”