Retail sector puts UK in second place across all countries assessed by BearingPoint digital study

The retail sector has helped the UK take second place for digital maturity from the 11 countries included in a new BearingPoint study.

This also reveals that UK companies scored strongly globally, with AO Retail (3.70) appearing in the top five of the global ranking.

The retailer was also ranked as the UK’s digital leader and retail was the top performing industry in the study, with non-food retail scoring highest (3.43), followed by food (3.32), and then fashion (3.28). Telco was the next best performing industry with a score of 3.11.

The top three retailers ranked in the UK’s retail sub-categories: non-food, fashion and food are:

Retail non-food – 1. AO Retail, 2. Boots UK, 3. Currys
Retail fashion – 1. Fat Face, 2. JD Sports Fashion, 3. River Island
Retail food – 1. Marks & Spencer, 2. Asda Stores, 3. Tesco

The study also found that AO Retail performed particularly strongly in digital marketing by achieving a score of 4.33.

Stuart Higgins, Partner at BearingPoint, says: “UK retail has really driven digital success once again and managed to take the UK to second place globally in our annual digital rankings.”

AO Retail scored particularly highly for search engine marketing, affiliate marketing, and the product and store information available - all scoring the maximum of 5.0 out of 5.0.

AO’s digital marketing really stood out with content focused on energy efficient appliances with a clear link to their services and product, which was delivered through various social media platforms.”

The research assessed 77 companies across seven industries: banking, energy, insurance, retail fashion, retail non-food, retail food and telco.

It encompassed 679 companies from 21 industries in UK, Ireland, The Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, and the US. BearingPoint reviewed the companies on four distinct dimensions – digital marketing, digital product experience, e-commerce and E-CRM.

It also highlights five key success factors for digital leaders, all of which are interconnected when executed correctly:

1. Putting customers at the centre of value propositions

2. Generating a positive emotional response through all customer interactions

3. Delivering value with a suite of advanced technology that leverages data centricity

4. Innovating in all aspects of the ecosystem

5. Integrating ethics, sustainability, and a broad worldview in day-to-day activities

Top ten UK companies: