Editor's Note: Announcing Total Retail’s 2019 Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers Report

Total Retail is excited to present to you its third annual Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers report. The report, produced in conjunction with Radial, an omnichannel commerce technology and operations provider, features a ranking of 100 publicly traded retailers based on their omnichannel retail programs offered as well as the execution of said programs.

Why focus on omnichannel retail? The modern consumer is no longer a single-channel shopper. What's more, fluidity between channels is increasing, which allows retail brands to shape shoppers’ experiences and ultimately build a competitive advantage founded on customer intelligence. The imperative for retailers is to create an omnichannel strategy that connects with customers as they move between channels and touchpoints.

Like our previous two rankings of the top 100 omnichannel retailers, this year's report identifies the brands leading the way in omnichannel retailing. Likewise, we’ve exposed the brands that have a lot of work to do in giving their customers the omnichannel experiences they've come to expect and demand.

As part of this year’s evaluation, we visited each retailer’s website as well as one of its brick-and-mortar stores, judging the companies on the following seven omnichannel criteria: the ability for customers to buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS); the ability to search for in-store products on a brand’s digital properties (website, mobile website, mobile app), including stock availability data; shared cart across channels for logged-in shoppers (e.g., mobile to desktop); the ability for loyalty points to be earned and redeemed across channels; cross-channel product returns (e.g., return online purchases in-store); ship from store/endless aisle; and pricing consistency across channels. The evaluations were conducted in the first quarter of 2019.

Omnichannel Strategy Leaders

There’s a three-way tie at the top of this year’s rankings, with Bloomingdale’s, J.C. Penney, and Lids all finishing with perfect scores. This is the second consecutive year that Lids has shared the No. 1 ranking in the Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers report. J.C. Penney made a significant leap in the rankings year-over-year (YoY), improving upon its 11th place finish in the 2018 report. And a new addition to this year’s list, Bloomingdale’s acquitted itself more than OK.

The companies that made the biggest YoY improvements in the rankings include a pair of department stores: Kohl’s up nine spots and Macy’s up eight spots. Other YoY risers in the rankings include Champs Sports (up eight spots), and Staples, The Children’s Place, and The Home Depot (all up six spots). Conversely, the retailers that saw the biggest declines in their YoY rankings included JoS. A. Bank and PetSmart (both down nine spots), as well as Cabela’s and Express (each down seven spots YoY).

Additional trends to emerge from this year’s research include the following:

• The continued adoption of BOPIS programs. Sixty-three percent of the retailers evaluated offer at least some form of BOPIS, up from 52 percent
  last year and 37 percent in 2017.
• An increased focus by retailers to enable customers to have a shared cart across channels. Ninety-two percent of the retailers evaluated had shared cart functionality, a testament to growing consumer usage of smartphones to begin their shopping journeys before ultimately transacting on their laptops and desktops.
• Retailers are catering to customers increasing penchant for wanting to return online purchases in-store. Only seven of the 100 retailers evaluated for this year’s rankings did not offer cross-channel returns in at least some form.

Use the 2019 Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers report as a resource for your business to measure itself against its competitors as well as the leading organizations in the retail industry. Conduct a self-audit of your company’s omnichannel capabilities, identifying areas of strength — which can be leveraged as differentiators — as well as areas of weakness. As consumer behaviors continue to shift and purchase journeys cross multiple channels, it’s the retailers that have a strong omnichannel strategy in place that stand to prosper.