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From in-store apps and interactive displays to smart mirrors and virtual fitting tools, retailers have spent the past decade testing new ways to connect with customers. Some of those ideas stuck, others faded, but each one helped shape what shoppers now expect - tech that adds ease, not effort.
Drawing on insights from 2,000 UK consumers, our new report with Shopify - What customers really want from unified commerce - shows how those years of innovation have raised the bar for what now counts as good retail tech. Shoppers have learned to look past novelty and focus on what makes browsing and buying faster, simpler, and more consistent. Tools that don’t make life easier quickly lose appeal, while those that genuinely remove friction are the ones that earn lasting loyalty.
Ease as the expectation
Shoppers no longer separate innovation from usability - they see both as part of the same promise to make shopping simple and consistent. Almost three-quarters of UK consumers say they’re more likely to buy from retailers that offer a smooth, joined-up experience, and that expectation plays out in the practical details of how they shop.
Wider industry research tells the same story. Morgan Stanley found that 77% of consumers now view convenience - comfort, speed, and accessibility - as a key factor in purchasing decisions, and FedEx’s 2025 Consumer Insights Report revealed that 97% of shoppers have abandoned a purchase because the experience felt inconvenient.
Together, these numbers show how firmly convenience has become the baseline for good retail. And that baseline isn’t defined by standout moments or clever features - it’s set by everything working the way shoppers expect it to, wherever the interaction takes place.
Where convenience breaks
On the surface, the demand for convenience isn’t new. Retailers have long focused on making each channel as straightforward as possible to use, and as a result websites have become faster, stores have become more service-led, and mobile experiences have been simplified to the point of instinct. But the real test of convenience now lies not just within individual channels, but also in how well they work together.
Thanks to a wealth of choice, shoppers no longer move through retail in straight lines. They flow between channels naturally, mixing online and in-store interactions within the same purchase cycle. Almost one in nine UK consumers now shop both online and in-store with the same retailers, which means convenience is being judged on the consistency between channels, not just the performance of each one. And this is where expectations most often slip - in the gaps between those touchpoints.
A customer checks stock levels on a brand’s website before leaving home, only to find empty shelves when they arrive in-store. Another tries to pay with the same method they used online, but it isn’t available at the till.
Someone else brings an online order into the store expecting a quick return, only to be told it must be posted back instead. These aren’t rare frustrations - 83% of shoppers say the ability to return an online purchase in-store is important, and nearly 70% expect the same payment options everywhere they shop. Moments like these interrupt the flow of the experience and add friction and frustration where shoppers expect ease.
Connected retail in practice
Delivering that expected consistency depends on unified commerce. By connecting systems, data, and teams around one shared foundation, it ensures that every channel reflects the same truth, including the same stock levels, pricing, promotions, and customer history. Visibility, fulfilment, and loyalty all update in real time, so the experience remains joined up however the shopper chooses to buy.
This foundation also changes how teams work behind the scenes. Store staff have the same information as ecommerce teams, customer service can resolve issues without chasing details, and merchandising no longer has to manage duplicate versions of the truth.
Decisions become quicker because everyone is working from the same source, and changes roll out consistently instead of being adapted channel by channel.
For shoppers, the impact is immediate. Checkout feels familiar everywhere they buy, stock accuracy improves, and returns become simpler because every interaction draws from the same data. What the customer sees online matches what they experience in-store, and the journey becomes something they don’t have to think about.
Retailers that achieve that level of connection make shopping feel easy, not because they’ve perfected each touchpoint in isolation, but because nothing jars, nothing contradicts itself, and nothing pulls the shopper out of the purchasing flow. The experience becomes seamless end-to-end, and in a market where avoiding friction often decides where people spend, that cohesion delivers convenience across the whole journey, wherever it starts.
Explore the full report. Download what customers really want from unified commerce for fresh insight into how shoppers expect convenience to work across every touchpoint.
