Tesco, Amazon top RetailEXPO CX poll

Tesco and Amazon provide the best in-store and online experience respectively, according to research by RetailEXPO involving 2,000 UK shoppers.

“From a technology perspective, the top three for in-store CX in our report - Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda - have all explored ways to reduce friction at the checkout, which is consistently a top pain point for shoppers, using either self-service, mobile app payment, or other methods to speed up transactions and give consumers purchasing control. It seems everyone’s looking for that Amazon Go-like showstopper,” says Matt Bradley, Event Director at RetailEXPO.

28% of UK shoppers rated Amazon as having the best digital CX, putting it some way ahead of second place Argos (9%) and third equal John Lewis and M&S (6%). 37% wanted retailers’ websites to have the same capabilities as Amazon – with frictionless one-click payments a priority for 23%. A further 33% expressed frustrations with the length of time retailers’ websites took to load.

“Digital transformation, store restructuring and resizing, the move to service-led, experiential retailing, and the need to innovate and compete with not just other retailers – but other entertainment, leisure and hospitality providers – illustrates a complex path ahead for the retail industry,” Bradley comments.

“Looking ahead, successful retail businesses will be ones that combine online and their physical retailing estates in the most organic ways. Retail winners will be the ones which don’t stand still, focus on offering customers memorable experiences, and evolve the way they are run to meet the needs of a new workforce and consumer demographic.”