Retailers, jack your prices! The number-one reason we choose to shop where we do is convenience, it turns out, and not price.

Whether it be an in-person or on-line transaction in question, shoppers are motivated more by how useful, suitable and geographically accessible a retailer is than how affordable its wares happen to be.

This from new research by Continuum, an international design and innovation consultancy firm based in the States. Continuum’s 2012 Service Design Report looked at data culled from interviews with more than 1,000 consumers across the US to uncover the most compelling reasons behind their choice to shop in-stores or online.

Some 40% of respondents — the majority by a long shot — said the top reason they opt to shop in-stores is convenience; and 43% of respondents — again the greatest chunk — cited the same thing when asked for the top reason they shop on line.

The rest of the survey results play out as follows:

Consumers shop in-stores because:

• They don’t trust the quality online (22 percent)
• They don’t want to pay for shipping/returns (17 percent)
• For better prices (17 percent)
• For personal interaction (4 percent)

Meanwhile, consumers shop online because:

• It’s easier to find what they are looking for (29 percent)
• For better prices (25 percent)
• To avoid interaction with employees (3 percent).

The convenience-beats-price consensus was a response that may have surprised some observers of the retail landscape, given the powerfully emerging trend called “showrooming” that’s gained prominence of late. Here, consumers browse a physical store before retreating to cyberspace to make a purchase electronically, presumably because they’ve found a cheaper price there.