Mapping the path to purchase: A guide to the top 5 shopping modalities in retail commerce

Are your customers looking for a one-stop shop to buy everything under the sun? Or, do they prefer a curated experience with your brand? Let’s explore the top five shopping modalities in retail commerce, so you can design journeys that align with these behaviors. By using the right channels, promotions, loyalty programs and more, you can capture attention and drive engagement.

Certain concepts once considered trends — like social commerce, livestreaming, personalization and omnichannel strategies — have firmly established themselves as staples in the modern eCommerce playbook. To succeed, brands must seamlessly integrate these elements into their operations, so that customer experiences are cohesive, personalized and engaging across every channel.

But before crafting strategies that resonate with today’s savvy shoppers, here’s what we suggest: Take a step back to understand the fundamental ways your customers shop. By identifying the core behaviors and preferences that guide consumer decisions — what we call the “modalities” of shopping — brands can align their efforts to match these patterns. From there, your business can fine-tune the use of channels, promotions, loyalty programs and other tactics to meet customers where they are, creating experiences that feel intuitive.

At a glance, there are five main shopping modalities: 

• Breadth and convenience: Customers who prefer to shop where they can find a wide variety of products in one place. 

• Curation: Customers who prefer curated shopping experiences with “packages” or “bundles” tailored to their wants and needs. 

• Inspiration: Customers who purchase based on inspiration from experiences, social posts and more. 

• Experiential: Customers who had memorable experiences with a brand and leverage that for their next purchase. 

• Loyalty: Customers already hooked on a particular brand and likely to buy more frequently. 

Of course, your customers might behave in many different ways, which may reflect demographics, disposable income and so on. At the same time, every single customer behaves in different ways depending on what they need. As Nicole France, Chief Evangelist at Contentful, said in a recent webinar, “I might be shopping in different modes at different times. Some days I go in because I need a new mascara, and I’m getting exactly what I want as quickly as possible. Another time, it may involve inspiration. And I want the brand to respond to and anticipate those different modes that I'm coming to them in.”

That said, let’s explore the top five shopping modalities and the main channels that support each.

When customers prioritize convenience, they often turn to marketplaces and large retailers that offer a vast selection of products across categories. Amazon is the poster child of this approach, serving as the ultimate “everything store.” However, even if “Amazon” is the first word that comes to mind when we think of marketplaces, this sector is vast today with a wealth of vertical retailers, ranging from Decathlon for sports gear to Sephora for all things beauty and Zalando for fashion. Warehouse clubs like Costco can also be placed in this category. 

Beyond convenience, product variety and price sensitivity are two factors that drive shoppers to large retailers. Generally, they might be looking for replenishment shopping for low-value, commodity items, as well as fulfilling seasonal needs, from buying Christmas decorations to camping gear for a summer trip. But there’s more: These online retailers also thrive in discretionary sales. As consumers’ budgets shrink due to inflation and higher living costs, they’re actively looking for places where they’re likely to get a good deal. 

Major marketplaces and large retailers capture the lion’s share of attention, but that’s not only because of a wide selection of products; it’s because they simplify product discovery. For many shoppers, platforms like Amazon or Sephora have become the first stop in the shopping journey, streamlining product discovery through advanced search tools, filters, customer reviews and curated recommendations. This dual role as a retail platform and product discovery hub positions marketplaces as indispensable players in the eCommerce ecosystem.

With millions of products at shoppers’ fingertips, the sheer volume of possibilities can lead to decision fatigue, making shopping feel more like a chore than a pleasure. Curation provides a much-needed antidote by narrowing down choices and presenting personalized selections that meet customers’ specific needs, tastes or lifestyles. By doing so, retailers enhance the shopping experience and create stronger connections with their customers. Examples of curated shopping experiences include:

• “Get the look” guides. Fashion retailers often provide curated guides that align with specific trends or cater to individual customer profiles, helping customers easily piece together outfits, accessories and footwear. The Canadian luxury menswear retailer Harry Rosen offers personalized “Shop the Look” options, including tailored outfit recommendations based on customer preferences and purchase history, blending the best curation with advanced technology. 

• Subscription boxes for beauty books or snacks that offer pre-selected options aligned with the customer’s tastes. For example, the global brand of home appliances Breville offers a coffee bean subscription for customers who have bought their coffee machines.   

• AI-driven recommendations, which use algorithms to suggest items based on browsing and purchase history.

Sometimes, customers don’t know what they want — until they’re inspired. Inspiration-driven shopping leverages storytelling, social proof and community engagement to spark curiosity, evoke emotions and guide purchase decisions. More than ever, shopping is tied to the experiences and stories that make products come alive in consumers’ minds. Several channels and tactics fuel inspiration:

• Social shopping: Platforms like TikTok and Instagram enable users to discover products organically through creators they trust. From beauty tutorials to kitchen hacks, social commerce blurs the line between content and commerce. 

• Shoppable content: Making content easily accessible makes it easy for consumers to find the item they fell in love with immediately. For example, the media giant NBCUniversal enables shoppers to find and buy items used in their TV shows in a marketplace, so they can capitalize on impulse purchases.  

• Livestream commerce: A rapidly growing trend, livestream shopping combines entertainment with the immediacy of product discovery.

• In-store inspiration: There’s more to inspiration than social media. Brick-and-mortar retailers blend storytelling and community through displays, workshops and immersive experiences. 

• Community engagement: From Peloton, which creates a motivational environment with instructors and user groups, to Interflora UK, which holds an annual World Cup celebrating the best florists with one-of-a-kind floral arrangements, various brands have been successful in promoting products and fostering a sense of belonging.

The rise of experiential retail transforms how customers engage with brands by creating memorable, sensory experiences that leave a lasting impression, including immersive sound demonstrations, interactive workshops or hands-on product testing. Here are some examples: 

• Physical-digital integration through immersive experiences: As the boundaries between the digital and physical worlds blur, technologies like AR are increasingly used in retail to create immersive experiences. These technologies allow customers to visualize products, enhancing their shopping journey. For example, Ulta Beauty offers an app with a virtual try-on service, allowing customers to try makeup, nail and hair products virtually using AR. 

• Non-digital experiences: While digital innovations are essential to experiential retail, non-digital, tactile and sensory experiences also play a powerful role. For example, Bang & Olufsen uses its flagship stores to offer immersive sound demonstrations that help customers experience the depth of its audio technology firsthand. 

What’s more, experiential retail interacts seamlessly with a brand’s omnichannel strategy. For example, after experiencing a Bang & Olufsen demonstration in-store, a customer may decide to purchase a speaker but choose to do so online for convenience or to compare prices. The physical experience is the trigger, while the online store provides an easy and seamless way to complete the purchase. 

As Marc Stracuzza, Director of Portfolio Strategy at commercetools, mentioned, “No matter where you are, whether it’s your in-store, your brand own website or your AI channel, if VR ever really takes off, you’re going to want that kind of homogeneous experience from a customer perspective. Customers want to feel the same everywhere. So, you want that personalization to be in all those channels too. That's where you have to have that commonality to bridge all of these different channels.” 

Furthermore, when customers engage with a brand on an emotional and sensory level, they’re more likely to return, share their experiences with others and become long-term advocates. This makes experiential retail a powerful tool for building customer loyalty.

Speaking of loyalty, every brand and retailer strives for this modality to boost revenue in the long run — and these aren’t limited to creating loyalty programs. From delivering consistent value to building emotional connections, retailers in tune with customers bring together a mix of shopping modalities that resonate with shoppers’ evolving wants and needs. 

Today’s customer loyalty programs in retail — as well as exclusive and VIP memberships, rewards programs, insider clubs, subscription benefits, priority access and so on — are designed to build more meaningful connections with customers, fostering long-term relationships that go beyond individual transactions. A great example is the British food and coffee chain Pret A Manger, which provides “Pret Perks” for customers to enjoy treats, rewards and little extras, and “Club Pret,” which offers a subscription that includes five barista-made drinks a day. 

By providing more than discounts — think exclusive benefits, personalized rewards and a sense of community — modern loyalty programs help brands stay top-of-mind and nurture engagement over time. Key elements of loyalty include: 

• Personalization: Loyalty programs that use data to craft personalized rewards — such as exclusive offers based on preferences, past purchases or browsing history — are more effective than those offering one-size-fits-all benefits. Brands can further enhance these personalized offerings by suggesting curated “bundles” (for example, a skincare routine or seasonal wardrobe) that make shopping easier for the customer.

• Omnichannel engagement: The modern consumer expects loyalty benefits to be accessible across both physical and digital channels, providing a seamless experience that makes it easy to earn and redeem loyalty points. This integration also includes loyalty benefits across various touchpoints — from personalized emails and app notifications to in-store discounts and exclusive access to sales events.

• Gamification: Gamified elements, such as reward tiers, challenges and interactive milestones make the experience feel more fun and rewarding, driving engagement.

The future of retail will be shaped by a nuanced understanding of how different customer segments shop. Factors like age, disposable income and product type (essential versus discretionary) will influence behavior. Retailers must be prepared to cater to shoppers who toggle between modalities: Buying staples on a marketplace, seeking inspiration on social platforms and demanding immersive experiences for big-ticket purchases.

In a nutshell, one of the biggest challenges for retailers will be carving out unique value propositions. This means:

1. Understanding customer behaviors: Use data to map out how and where your customers shop.

2. Adopting omnichannel strategies: Ensure seamless transitions between online and offline channels.

3. Ensuring the commerce basics: Site performance and speed, mobile responsiveness, simple checkout flows, and other commerce 101 requirements continue to be critical to driving engagement and conversions.  

4. Embracing flexibility and adaptability: Be prepared to pivot as customer preferences and technologies evolve.

Delivering outstanding shopping experiences is crucial to meeting modern consumer expectations. Contentful and commercetools empower brands by pairing Contentful’s composable content platform with world-class commerce technology by commercetools to create agile, scalable digital experiences that seamlessly connect content and commerce. This partnership supports quick innovation, personalized omnichannel shopping and adaptability to shifting market demands. Trusted by over 100 leading brands like Bang & Olufsen and Sephora, this integration provides a modern tech stack designed to unlock limitless opportunities in the shopper’s journey.

Ready to learn more? Explore strategies for retail success in our detailed blog 5 Strategies to Maximize Commerce Success for Retailers.