Three ways retailers can reduce shopper friction

Originally published in Modern Retail

As UK consumer confidence experiences its biggest fall in four years, shoppers are making purchasing decisions under greater financial pressure and scrutiny than before – weighing up every click, every return and every basket. Retailers can’t afford to make the customer experience hard work too.

And yet, many are. Longer online journeys that increase stress, delivery messaging that contradicts itself across touchpoints, and return policies written for legal teams instead of actual customers all add to the sense that the retailer is working for itself, not for you.

Some physical stores also present basic accessibility barriers before shoppers have even found what they came for. Cluttered layouts, poor signage, and checkout points that weren’t designed with actual humans in mind are all moments that erode trust, drive abandonment, and send customers elsewhere.

However, if friction is designed in, it can be designed out. There are three key areas where retailers can make changes to reduce shopper inconvenience.

1. Remove decision anxiety

Under financial pressure, every small decision carries weight. Choosing a delivery slot, understanding a returns window, or working out the difference between two fulfilment options shouldn’t require effort. But overly complex systems and vague language force customers to work harder than they should.

The design principle here is to make the right choice the easy one. That means showing a clear recommended option – or even a sensible default – at key decision points.

Think about pre-selecting the most popular delivery window, for example, rather than presenting an overwhelming number of options in front of your consumer. Next does this well with its returns process. A default option is already selected and expectations are set from the moment of purchase.

Retailers must also use plain language that actually reflects how customers think and talk, rather than internal operational terminology. It’s crucial to test those moments with real people under real-world conditions, not just in controlled usability sessions.

When you reduce the cognitive load at these friction points, customers move through journeys quicker, with greater confidence, and with a better feeling about the brand they’ve just bought from. And a customer who feels confident is more likely to come back.

2. Design for time-poor shoppers

Nobody actually shops like retailers (and consultants) assume they do. The idea that customers are sitting at a desktop with time to spare has never really been true. People are browsing on public transport, between meetings, and comparing prices while standing in a competitor’s aisle. The retail journey needs to work for this reality.

Layouts should be easy to scan and steps should be reduced wherever possible. Every additional tap or scroll is a potential exit point. Sainsbury’s SmartShop removes the biggest one, letting shoppers bypass the checkout queue entirely.

Key information, from pricing to availability and estimated delivery, should also be visible without requiring a customer to dig for it. In store, the same logic applies: clear wayfinding and staff who are easy to locate make all the difference when someone has fifteen minutes to spare, a screaming toddler and a list.

The retailers succeeding are the ones designing for the person who’s always slightly short on time. If you design for that person, you’ve designed for almost every customer you have.

3. Make reassurance visible

Customer hesitation is something else retailers want to avoid. Those who pause to question pricing, or who aren’t sure how they’ll return an item, are already halfway to abandoning. These moments of doubt don’t always show up in analytics because the customer simply disappears, but they’re happening constantly – and are preventable.

Designing for reassurance means mapping the moments where customers are most likely to hesitate and asking: what does this person need to feel confident right now?

Sometimes that’s a price guarantee clearly stated, such as John Lewis’ price promise commitment appearing at the point of purchase. Other times it’s the visibility of a live chat option to answer queries, or a staff member who is easy to find.

These are design decisions. Retailers who treat this reassurance as a core part of the experience, rather than an afterthought, will see the difference in repeat visits, basket sizes and completion rates.

Maximise the opportunity

None of these recommendations require a full platform update or significant technology investment, just a different starting point. Design for the customer’s real-world conditions, not the retailer’s internal processes.

When consumer confidence is low and every decision is scrutinised, the retailers whose experiences feel effortless will win. In a market where every purchase is being carefully considered, the quality of the journey matters as much as the quality of the product. Removing friction is a competitive advantage, and it starts with design.