Practicology provides omnichannel performance research for Google

UK retailers are leading the way on delivering a superior omnichannel experience, according to research carried out by Practicology for Google.

This was conducted during 2019 and covered 223 retailers across 10 countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Each retailer’s mobile website was assessed on its usability, and store visits took place in each country. Practicology also signed up to receive email marketing and assessed email, phone and live chat customer service channels.

Retailers were grouped into four categories by score: Leaders, Followers, Majority and Latecomers. Less than 20% were scored as Leaders, with the majority of Leaders being based in the UK, France and Netherlands. Spain and Norway had the most Latecomers.

The research identifies five things that the Leaders do which mark them out as delivering great customer experience:

Allow customers to easily move between channels and devices during their shopper journey;
Use in-store technology to integrate online and offline experiences;
Promote their online proposition in-store, and make it easy for customers to collect online orders;
Encourage customers to visit stores, and promote in-store events, on their websites;
Set expectations about how quickly customers can receive or collect orders and offer next-day delivery options.

Practicology General Manager Europe Nicola Hollow comments: “The project is a huge undertaking, but we believe that it is crucial to help retailers’ and brands’ management teams understand the interdependence of their online and offline operations from the point of view of their customers.”