The Online vs Offline Divide: The Gap Retailers Keep Ignoring

How do retailers deliver a consistent customer experience when shoppers move fluidly between online research and in-store decision-making? In this CX Today interview, Francesca Roche speaks with Daniel Todaro, CEO of Gekko Group, about the widening gap between digital information and shop-floor execution.

Todaro argues the biggest disconnect is knowledge, including what customers can learn online versus what they can get from a trained advisor in store. He also explains why constant discounting can damage brand equity, how tech-first environments like digital mirrors and retail media can lift engagement while alienating some groups, and what “agentic AI” could unlock when physical and digital journeys finally match.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hello everyone and welcome back to CX Today. My name is Francesca Roche. I'm a technology journalist today discussing the growing divide between online and in-store customer experiences and the role of technology and AI in closing that gap. Now, with consumer confidence under pressure and spending on non-essentials increasingly hard won, brands are having to work harder than ever to build loyalty and standout across every touch point. From AI-powered personalization to tech-first physical environments, the tools available to retailers are evolving fast. But so are the risks of getting it wrong. Today I'm joined by Daniel Todaro, the CEO at Gecko Group, a retail marketing agency from where he brings a wealth of experience in sales and marketing strategy to help brands build loyalty. Before we get into the discussion, Daniel, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_01 0:59

I'm really good, thanks. Thanks for inviting me.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Thank you. It's um lovely to meet you. Um now, firstly, where do you see the biggest gaps between online and in-store experiences? You know, what is driving those gaps?

SPEAKER_01 1:13

The knowledge gap, the differences between online and physical is the knowledge that you would receive from a sales advisor. In the considered purchase space where we operate, a consumer will have weighed up the pros and cons of a particular product. They would have done their research, perhaps read recommendations, and they've decided that they want to go into store to actually see the product in physical, but also as well talk to somebody about it to make sure that it's the right product for them. You can't get that online. When you're shopping online, you don't get that level of device. And that is probably the biggest gap is the knowledge piece. For some brands that perhaps operate in different sectors, but also as well operate at particular or sell a product in different colourways. And we had an example which was identified through our DWS system on our web scraping. There was a brand that couldn't understand why they weren't able or capably selling online within a specific online retailer, a specific product in the different colourways, all they kept selling was black. And it's because that particular online retailer didn't feature the different colours, despite the fact that they did stock and range those different colourways, they weren't actually displaying them. So from the consumer perspective, they didn't realise that the product was available in seven different colours, they weren't given the opportunity to be able to see those particular seven colours, and again, they weren't able to be given an informed choice. So ultimately, what they did is they either went straight for the black or they decided to abandon that basket and go and look elsewhere, whether it be elsewhere on a different online portal or whether they went physically in store. And what we were able to do is understand what that bottleneck is and what that bottleneck was. And it's it is again about choice and knowledge that the consumer receives and the difference between physical and digital.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

Absolutely. I think uh you very highlighted there the disconnect between digital insight and store execution with knowledge. And how is rising consumer price pressure changing how brands in non-essential categories compete for attention and spend?

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Um, it's a real factor, and as you pointed out in your opening statements, people are cautious about how they spend that pound in their pocket, and we know that this particular economic position that we're in at the moment is probably going to have a long tail where it will last for several months, which will create more caution amongst consumers on where they spend. It may stop them from spending, they may delay purchasing a particular product. But what we're beginning to see is that online versus physical, we may see less promotion happening. And we know from the recent bellweather figures that brands are reducing their promotional spend. That's twofold in that A, it's very expensive to run promotions that continuously discount a product, especially when it's costing more to manufacture and to ship into store. But secondly, as well, it devalues the brand. And from a brand perspective, what you don't want to be is that brand that is constantly reducing in price, that is having forever promotions um against your product because it does devalue the brand equity.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Absolutely, and I think that does lead in uh quite nicely to um what we're seeing a lot in marketing at the moment, like the the the marketers are having to prove that ROI um not anymore in the future, but how what it makes right now. So I think that really does um touch on that. And how are tech first retail environments such as digital fitting rooms and retail media screens changing customer expectations in physical stores? And when do they reduce, like when do they risk alienating certain customer groups?

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Technology is amazing, and when you can introduce it into the retail environment, um, it creates, if you like, that that experience for the consumer. And that's what people want. And Gen Z ultimately want a consumer experience when they go into shop. They're going to shopping because they're doing it not as you know, a necessity, they're doing it for pleasure. This is time, dwell time that they spend in store to play and to engage. And then retailers that get it right do it phenomenally well. But you do run the risk of it of it of alienating certain demographics, you know, neurodiverse, where elderly or perhaps those people that are don't have necessarily have the same depth of pocket when you know shopping. And again, sometimes what happens with those ultra, ultra technology-based retailers and where they have lots of gadgets and gizmos, and where they make it really immersive and digital, it alienates those individuals because what they want is a sense of familiarity. They want to be able to go into a retailer and know that if I talk to somebody, I'll get an answer rather than feel intimidated by having to interact with something. But we've seen it work exceptionally well in different retailers, especially within fashion retail, where we've seen AI mirrors, you know, what should I wear? Does this look good on me? Does this colour suit me, etc.? And they work phenomenally well within those kinds of environments. But I think it has to be a really measured approach about how you do this and how retailers do this, and also understand your target audience and your consumer. And if your target audience isn't necessarily of a younger demographic, then maybe you alienate your existing customer base.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Absolutely. I think technology should be there in retail to enhance, not overwhelm those particular groups if it's unnecessary. And what role do you see for agentic AI in improving efficiency across retail marketing and customer experience?

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Oh, there's a huge away that they can. I mean, imagine a world where you walked into a store and it kind of aggregated everything that you searched, and immediately someone could present you with all those things and it knew straight away. And you know, I'm sure one day, from an AI perspective, that will happen. But the reality is that people would mix between physical and digital. They would have done research and they'd be benchmarking on pricing. And we see it as well when people go into store, you know, they may be looking at a product and physically experiencing the product, so they'll go online to price check it and to benchmark it against other products, and they'll do that. So what we're seeing is that combined approach in retail, physical and digital actually happening there in the shop floor. Ultimately, what the retailer needs to do is be really clever in making sure that the read that consumer actually buys there and then on the shop floor from them and doesn't decide that they're going to press purchase on screen on the screen and buy elsewhere while they're still in your store. And there are certain retailers that are really good at making sure that they can price match. You know, John Lewis is a great example of that, and we'll do that there and then, but then there are other retailers that necessarily haven't really caught on to this, and they need to get a little bit more savvy about that because we are in this digital age now where we do utilize both when we go shopping.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Absolutely, and as I said earlier, I think AI should be there as an enabler, not as a replacement for that retail experience. And just before we end our discussion today, looking ahead, how do you expect the balance between AI-driven automation and human interaction in retail to evolve, especially for high consideration purchases?

SPEAKER_01 8:02

The two should complement each other in that research should enable you to be able to aggregate information. Reviews are really, really important, as we know, especially in that considered purchase base. You may have had the recommendation personally from a friend or relative, but then also you're very interested in what people are going to tell, I have have written online about that particular product. And that's where the two collide because immediately you can see those reviews on the shop floor, and that could be the turning point that makes you decide to be a purchaser of that particular product and a buyer of that brand. So I think where we see that AI kind of emerge and get get come together in that space, in that physical space, it will help to actually drive those physical retailers to sell more product. It's the clever ones that begin to embrace that and bring that together. But it's also really important that when we look at the digital space, that we make sure that what the consumer is looking at matches what they're seeing on the shop floor. And more often than not, and we see this and we measure this through our GWS service, is that we can see pricing online varies from that in the physical space. Now, if you want a unified journey, a customer journey, whereby they feel that they are making the right decision there and there on that day that they've gone into store, we need to make sure that what they're seeing advertised online is exactly the same as what they're seeing and experiencing in physical that time of purchase.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Absolutely, I think it's very key to ensure that transparency between the business and the customer. And that balance between automation and human touch is clearly going to be very critical moving forward. Um, now, unfortunately, that is all we have time for today, but I would like to thank Daniel for being here. It's been really insightful to get an idea of how brands can navigate the online-offline divide, harnessing technology and AI without losing the human touch, and ultimately build stronger, more consistent customer experiences. So thank you so much for joining me.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

You're welcome. Thank you very much for inviting me.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

And from all of us at CX Today, thanks for watching. Goodbye.