BOSTON – Disappointing shopping experiences are costing U.S. brick-and-mortar retailers serious money, according to the latest TimeTrade State of Retail survey of U.S. consumers, which suggests that retail stores left about $150 billion in potential revenue on the table in 2016.

“In-store shopping is far from dead—but it does have to change to keep up with the trends,” said Gary Ambrosino, CEO of TimeTrade. “The key to success for brick-and-mortar retailers is to fully utilize their existing staff and relentlessly focus on providing personalized service to every customer. We know consumers are willing to pay for better service. It’s a big opportunity for traditional retailers to up their game across the board and capture that additional revenue, instead of letting those dollars go elsewhere.”

Millennial respondents (aged 21-35) offered some counter-intuitive findings. Members of this generation, the largest in U.S. history, are entering their earning and spending prime, making them especially important to retailers. While many assume that millennials, who came of age in the digital world, shop mostly online, survey results show that they prefer shopping in stores (89% said they will shop as much or more in stores in 2017) and scored higher than other age groups in the following areas:

• Almost half of them (47%) do 75% of their shopping in-store vs. online.
• 29% always start shopping online and go in-store to complete the purchase.
• When helped by a knowledgeable associate, 58% are extremely likely to make purchases.
• Nearly 70% said they would pay more for products or services if they had a highly personalized in-store experience; 24% of these respondents would pay up to 20% more.
• Millennials said they would enjoy improved shopping experiences if provided personal assistants/shoppers (45%), beacon technologies (31%), and organized systems with wait-time displays and text/email updates when their turn is near (29%).

Respondents noted differences when it came to providing a consistent experience across channels. While 75% agreed that stores provide good service, only 38% felt that way about the Web, 31% for email, 26% for call centers, 24% for social media, 21% for text, and 14% for kiosks.

The State of Retail 2017 survey of more than 2,000 consumers was conducted between November 6 and 12, 2016. The full report is available for download.