NRF report shows lack of tech awareness among shoppers

To hear martech companies tell it, technologies such as voice search and augmented reality (AR) are on the rise. But in Consumer View, a quarterly report released today by the National Retail Federation (NRF), customers are telling a different story.

The report said that only 16 percent of those surveyed were aware of voice search and augmented reality, and even fewer were aware of virtual reality (14 percent) and in-store tech such as smart dressing rooms (13 percent).

Many of those who are aware of the technology are using it. Almost half of the respondents (43 percent) who had heard of voice search have used it, and 48 percent have used AR. Slightly more than half of those who tried both technologies said that the technology improved their experience.

Further, the report said that among the technology used by consumers, messaging apps and chat were the technologies that had most often been tried (65 percent), while in-app store navigation was the feature most cited as improving the shopping experience (63 percent).