Seven in 10 shoppers research items online before completing the transaction in-store, while 54 per cent research in-store before buying online, new survey finds.

The research from BookingBug, which surveyed 2,000 consumers across the US and UK, found that 37 per cent of people do more online shopping now than they did last year. However stores remain the main purchase channel for 52 per cent of consumers in the US and 41 per cent in the UK.

The research revealed a gap between demand and reality when it came to in-store events, with 6 per cent of shoppers saying that they would attend hosted events by retailers, but only 23 per cent have ever been invited to one.

Glenn Shoosmith, CEO of BookingBug, commented: “The biggest retailers in the world have already discovered the formula to make consumer offline engagement a crucial and valuable asset – you do not need to discount prices and compromise margins to get consumers into a store but provide them with a clear reason to spend time visiting.

“If retailers know that customers do research in-store before buying online, then it makes sense to create services that will make that insight easy to consume.”

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