We recently released our annual cross-channel report. But here’s something you may not know: we’ve been asking thousands of consumers a lot of the same questions we’ve been asking retailers lately. This creates for a 360-degree view of any specific topic, or as we more commonly like to call it among ourselves: a he said/she said version of a topic.

In the future, we’ll be folding more of this type of analysis into our benchmark reports. But what we’re already learning is that when it comes to what retailers perceive vs. what consumers believe, there are some pretty stark contrasts. Take, for example, what the results look like when you ask consumers – and then retailers – what the biggest problems are when shopping across different channels:

As you can see, retailers are afraid that customer expectations are too high – and move too quickly – whereas consumers report they are willing to cut a bit more slack to retailers they really like.

At the same time, shoppers genuinely love gaming the system to find whatever they want at the lowest price possible. So are retailers currently reacting to the wrong thing?

Take a look at the following and see what you surmise. Because to us it looks like the customer is getting exactly what she wants from the chaos she’s helping to create right about now.

We’ll have a lot more of this type of data in the near future. But in the meantime, reconsider the importance of making your channels unique, consistent, and featuring employees that can help in a more meaningful way than they currently do. Those things may prove far more important than trying to adapt to shifts from both competitors and consumer expectations.