Brits are omnichannel, savvy shoppers with little time but lots to do. So in response to the shift in consumer behaviour the first fast track pedestrian shopping lane has been exclusively unveiled by Argos today. The British catalogue retailer found in recently conducted research that almost half the nation cites the slow pace of high streets as their biggest irritant when shopping.
According to the research, carrying heavy shopping bags, battling through crowds, navigating large stores and waiting in queues are also amongst the factors that deter consumers from the high street.
In addition to unearthing shopping frustrations, Argos asked the nation how the UK high street might look in 50 years‘ time. Findings show that a fifth of Brits hope that their favourite shops will predict what household items they need and deliver them to their doorstep automatically. More than 5m people predict personalised shop windows showcasing targeted offers and products will feature on the future high street. 20% also expect to see electronic trollies to carry heavy shopping bags.
With 28.8m Britons saying they would like a pavement fast lane installed on their local high street to ensure less time is spent dodging the masses, Argos has launched the UK‘s first ever crowd-bypassing pavement lane. The trial comes a month after Argos launched the first nationwide same-day Fast Track delivery and in as little as 60 seconds in-store collection services to speed up shopping for the nation.
Set in the middle of bustling Liverpool One, shoppers will be testing out the experimental pavement fast lane until Sunday 8 November.
“We know that speed is a major factor for time-poor shoppers and that‘s why we have launched the UK‘s first Fast Track nationwide same-day delivery and in as little as 60 seconds in-store collection services last month,” said Andy Brown, Central Operations Director at Argos. “Shoppers have also told us that speed is critical when simply getting around the high street or town centre, so we want to test consumer reaction to a dedicated pavement fast lane. We hope it alleviates some of the biggest shopping high street frustrations.”
