NEUHAUSEN, Switzerland — (January 9, 2019) — Johnson Controls today announced that Sensormatic Solutions, its leading global retail solutions portfolio, released the results of its 2020 Consumer Shopping Trends survey of more than 1,100 consumers. The survey revealed that by an overwhelming majority, 64% of consumers still prefer to engage with in-store associates, 30% prefer a retailer’s mobile app and only 5% prefer robot assistants.

While consumers prefer to connect with humans for in-store assistance, they don’t think it’s necessary at the point of sale (POS). Over half (55%) of consumers said they “always” or “usually” use self-checkout to make a purchase in-store. Additionally, those who shop more frequently are more likely to use self-checkout. Findings revealed 30% of everyday shoppers “always” use self-checkout, compared to 17% of those who only shop a few times a week.

“There is a growing dialogue that technology will replace the need for face-to-face interactions and promote the ‘digitalization’ of everything, but that is not necessarily the case,” said Bjoern Petersen, president at Sensormatic Solutions. “While there is no denying that technology and automation are helping businesses streamline processes and decision making, our survey proves that traditional customer engagement is alive and well.”

The survey also explored the rise in consumer adoption of emerging fulfilment services such as buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS) and buy online, return in store (BORIS). Nearly half (40%) of consumers use BOPIS regularly, followed by BORIS (31%) and curbside pickup (15%). Thirty six percent of consumers don’t use any of these services on a regular basis.

When leveraging these services, many respondents found themselves making “impulse purchases,” (e.g. buying something they didn’t intend to before entering the store). Over half of consumers (55%) were either very likely or moderately likely to make an impulse purchase when using these multichannel fulfilment services.

“One of the key benefits of adopting BOPIS is that it drives more in-store traffic and potentially higher sales,” said Petersen. “That’s why inventory accuracy and availability is essential for today’s retailers. To capitalize on this and deliver a seamless omnichannel customer experience, we see retailers invest in technology, like RFID, that eliminates manual inventory counting and frees up associates for more strategic work, like engaging with shoppers on the store floor.”

Survey Methodology

Sensormatic Solutions collected responses from 1,186 US-based consumers, 18-years and older, via a third-party provider to determine the findings of its 2020 Consumer Shopping Trends survey.

At Johnson Controls, we transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play. From optimizing building performance to improving safety and enhancing comfort, we drive the outcomes that matter most. We deliver our promise in industries such as healthcare, education, data centers and manufacturing. With a global team of 105,000 experts in more than 150 countries and over 130 years of innovation, we are the power behind our customers’ mission. Our leading portfolio of building technology and solutions includes some of the most trusted names in the industry, such as Tyco^®, York^®, Metasys^®, Ruskin^®, Titus^®, Frick^®, Penn^®, Sabroe^®, Simplex^®, Ansul^® and Grinnell^®. For more information, visit www.johnsoncontrols.com or follow @johnsoncontrols on Twitter.

Sensormatic Solutions is the leading global retail solutions portfolio of Johnson Controls enabling smart and connected shopper engagement. By combining critical insights into retail inventory, shopper traffic and loss prevention, Sensormatic Solutions powers operational excellence at scale and helps create unique shopping experiences. Our solutions deliver real-time visibility and predictive analytics for accurate decision-making across the enterprise, enabling retailers to confidently move into the future. With more than 1.5 million data collection devices in the retail marketplace, we capture 40 billion shopper visits and track and protect billions of items each year. Our retail portfolio features the premier Sensormatic, ShopperTrak and TrueVUE brands. Please visit Sensormatic Solutions or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and our YouTube channel.

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