Torrid Tops Ranking of Leading Omnichannel Retailers

Total Retail's fifth annual Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers report, which ranks 100 leading retailers and brands based on their omnichannel capabilities — i.e., programs and services offered and the execution of those programs — revealed that women's plus-size fashion retailer Torrid is at the forefront of delivering frictionless cross-channel shopping experiences for its customers. The report was produced in conjunction with Orckestra, an omnichannel commerce platform provider that unifies retailers’ e-commerce software, mobile commerce, and retail stores.

Torrid is a direct-to-consumer apparel and intimates brand in North America for women sizes 10 to 30, and is a newcomer to the Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers list. In addition to its e-commerce platform, Torrid operates 600-plus stores across the United States and Canada. The brand has been growing rapidly in recent years, posting 17 percent net sales growth in last five years. At the end of 2020, Torrid counted 3.2 million active customers.

And those customers have shown omnichannel behaviors, which is powering Torrid’s growth. In 2020, the average omnichannel customer made 7.8 purchases and spent approximately 3.2 times more than single-channel customers, Torrid said in its 2021 second-quarter earnings release.

Given the value they present to the brand, Torrid is wisely catering to its loyal customers’ behaviors by optimizing their omnichannel shopping experiences. The retailer received the top possible score in six of the eight criteria evaluated for the Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers report, narrowly missing in the BOPIS/curbside and Mobile Payments categories.

“We think we have the model that really everyone’s going to try to get to, which is this amazing balance of stores welcoming customers, indoctrinating them into the brand, educating them on fit and what they love,” Torrid CEO Liz Munoz told Yahoo Finance in a July 2021 interview. “And then that customer becomes an omnichannel customer and ends up shopping both channels.”

In that same interview, Munoz noted that 70 percent of Torrid’s sales come online, while 30 percent are generated in-store. While those numbers may shift closer to 50-50 as more consumers begin to shop in-store post-pandemic, the breakdown doesn’t really matter to Torrid. It has effectively built an omnichannel infrastructure that can serve its customers however they prefer to shop. And that’s what will be instrumental in driving future success for the brand.

For more insights on the leading omnichannel retailers, including profiles of other top performers like Torrid, download the 2021 Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers report. This comprehensive report is a resource for retailers to measure themselves against their competitors as well as the leading organizations in the industry. It should also serve as a prompt to 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 infrastructure in place, including integrated technology systems and solutions, that stand to prosper.