Editor's Note: Total Retail Releases its 2023 Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers Report
The seventh annual ranking of 100 retailers and brands based on the omnichannel services offered across their organizations (e.g., supply chain, loyalty, payments, customer service), and the execution of those services, was released earlier this week by Total Retail. The comprehensive report identifies the companies performing best at delivering frictionless cross-channel shopping experiences.
The 2023 report is sponsored by Cordial, the cross-channel marketing and data management platform for brands to communicate in personal, intelligent ways. The evaluations were conducted in September and October, with each of the retailer’s website assessed on the following nine criteria:
- the ability for customers to buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS);
- buy online, pick up curbside;
- search for in-store product availability on a brand’s digital properties (desktop site, mobile site, mobile app);
- have a shared cart across channels for logged-in shoppers (e.g., mobile site to desktop; app to desktop);
- earn and redeem loyalty points/rewards across channels;
- return products across channels (e.g., return online purchases in-store);
- pay for purchases in-store via a mobile wallet and/or app;
- access customer service help across multiple channels; and
- make purchases and check in-store stock levels via a mobile app.
Here's what the data collected from this year’s assessments revealed. Destination XL earned the No. 1 spot in this year’s rankings, earning all 90 of the total points available. The Home Depot took second place with 88 points, followed by a four-way tie for third place between American Eagle Outfitters, H&M, Nordstrom, and Staples, each earning 84 points.
In addition to evaluating and ranking individual retailer’s execution of various of omnichannel shopping experiences, the report yielded some interesting trends across the industry:
- All but one of the 100 retailers (Columbia Sportswear) offer at least some form of BOPIS. This number drops significantly when measuring curbside pickup, with less than two-thirds of the retailers (65) offering this service. Quickly sprung up during the COVID-19 pandemic, curbside pickup seems to be losing favor among retailers — and potentially for good reason. Driving foot traffic into stores, including people coming to pick up online orders, provides the opportunity for incremental purchases. This dynamic doesn’t exist with curbside pickup.
- Similarly, the overwhelming majority of the top 100 omnichannel retailers (96 percent) enable customers to return purchases across channels, most commonly the return of online purchases to physical stores. However, less than 20 percent of the merchants earned full credit for this criteria category. Allowing in-store purchases to be shipped back to a retailer’s distribution center rather than returned to a store is not yet commonplace within the industry.
- Eighty-one percent of retailers’ loyalty programs allow their members to earn and redeem points/rewards across multiple transaction channels (online, in-store, app). With rising customer acquisition costs (CACs), particularly online, retailers are leveraging loyalty programs to retain as many existing customers as possible. In addition to value, consumers are seeking convenience from retailers’ loyalty programs. Offering members the ability to earn and redeem points and rewards across multiple transaction channels has become table stakes for retail loyalty programs.
Here’s a look at the 100 retailers’ average score for each of the nine criteria categories (in order of
highest to lowest):
- BOPIS: 12.67 (max of 14 points)
- Cross-Channel Customer Service: 11.28 (max of 13 points)
- In-Store Stock Availability Provided Online: 9.88 (max of 12 points)
- Shared Cart: 8.80 (max of 10 points)
- Cross-Channel Returns: 6.89 (max of 12 points)
- Mobile App Functionality: 6.77 (max of 9 points)
- Loyalty Points Earned and Redeemed Across Channels: 5.86 (max of 7 points)
- In-Store Mobile Payments: 5.13 (max of seven points)
- Curbside Pickup: 2.79 (max of six points)
So what can retailers do to improve their omnichannel operations? According to Amy Jerusalmi, chief client officer of Cordial, the first step is to get their customer data in order.
“Retailers should prioritize having a central location for data to use across all consumer touchpoints and channels,” notes Jerusalmi. “The data can be used to build seamless customer journeys, hyperfocused and hyperpersonalized content, and deliver an exceptional experience — at the right time and place.”
You can download the report here to see the full rankings as well as profiles of the top performers. In addition, there is valuable trend information extracted from this year's data.
