Topshop is the best omni-channel fashion retailer according to results of a survey by Kurt Salmon, the global retail and consumer goods consultancy, to find out how well businesses are performing across multiple channels.
Topshop, John Lewis and Marks & Spencer have the top mobile offer; House of Fraser is the best executioner of cross channel/order fulfilment and also heads the social leaderboard. Topshop and Harvey Nichols are the best “in store” operators. Not surprisingly, ASOS is the leading exponent in online. While these retailers are significantly ahead of the average, there is still plenty of opportunity to move from good to great, according to Siobhan Gehin, partner at Kurt Salmon, as not one retailer demonstrated best practice across all customer touch points. In particular, when it comes to order fulfilment and operating across multiple channels, execution is poor.
“Retailers just do not have the ‘glue’ they need to link all the channels together, so they are disappointing customers and losing sales,” explains Gehin. Retailers are still not confident in their stock file accuracies, which is leading to significant lost business, with just five out of the 25 retailers surveyed having a store stock checker and only one offering reserve & collect. Fashion retailers have been quick to embrace click & collect but the offer is not consistent, with eight of the fashion retailers surveyed offering a three day click & collect facility. Additionally, Kurt Salmon believes there’s work to be done on harmonising payment and returns policies, which differ across channels. For instance, not all retailers allow customers to use a refund or a gift card on line.
Topshop stood out from the competition for its highly engaging content online, a clean and highly functional mobile site with social well integrated. And its in-store experience matches that of a more up-market retailer, with a strong service proposition, including personal shopping facilities.
