• by Sarah Mahoney , January 12, 2010

While the holidays are already ancient history to most marketers, the art of interpreting consumer spending patterns is just beginning, and a new study indicates that the relationship between online and in-store shopping is more closely connected than many retailers realize.

While people want to buy online, they still want to shop in person, reports marketing agency Allen & Gerritsen, which polled 400 consumers during the week after Christmas. "Despite the increased usage of online retail sites during the holiday season, most people are still visiting actual stores for inspiration," Catherine Kolodij, VP/Audience Intelligence for A&G, tells tells Marketing Daily.

Some 83% of respondents said they went to a retail store, followed by 47% who used an online-only site, such as Amazon.com or Zappos.com, followed by 38% who used a traditional retailer's online site (like Walmart.com). And stores are still the most popular place to get gift ideas, with 51% of respondents visiting retailers, compared to 48% who browsed the Web. About 43% asked friends and family for input, and a third browsed catalogs, although only 13% bought through this channel.

But the transactional benefits of the Internet are meeting their expectations, and consumers are highly satisfied with their online shopping. "In fact, when we asked people where they planned to shop next year, based on their experiences this year, online was up 20%." she says.

Not only is customer satisfaction with Web shopping high, consumers also seem increasingly understanding about the way the channels work together. One surprise, she says, is that when consumers went to stores and found them out of stock and were redirected to a Web site, "something we thought would cause a lot of frustration and annoyance, people were actually understanding." In fact, it heightened their satisfaction with the process. Of the 12% of respondents who were redirected this holiday season, 82% said they were somewhat or very satisfied with their retail store experience -- probably because people appreciated the personal involvement of the associate.

"People are just getting more and more comfortable with the idea that the store is a kind of a showroom, where they can look at a product and ask for expert help, while online, they can compare prices, and get a sense of what other consumers say," she says. "Since we're all empowered users of the Internet, it becomes incumbent on the retailer to say 'How can I use this trend to benefit my company, not just this one particular store?'"

In addition to the Web, the survey turned up another clear winner: The wish list. While the majority of Americans (75%) were satisfied with the gifts they got this year, the happiest ones were those who had receieved gifts from their wish lists. And 60% of Americans said they based some of their shopping off the list of a loved one.

A&G is based in Watertown, Mass.