Omnichannel customer experience: leading retailers in Europe 2018

Retailers have been quick and efficient in adapting to the transformative impact of technology on the retail trade, be it in last mile operations, sales channels or customer experience (CX). In Europe, multinational retailers from Germany, France, and the Netherlands were at the forefront of providing shoppers with top level retail experience based on their omnichannel performance. According to a benchmark report issued by Google, the Dutch outdoors sports retailer Bever ranked as the leading European omnichannel retailer, having fulfilled 67 percent of omnichannel CX criteria.

The quest for frictionless retail

Omnichannel retail combines in-store and online retail in the most seamless way possible. Retailers that aim to provide a frictionless shopping journeys utilize multichannel sales strategies across all possible devices and platforms. Today, most European countries where e-commerce retail flourishes also score well as omnichannel retailers. As displayed in the statistic, French, German, Swedish and UK retailers are in a fierce competition to deliver the best omnichannel experience.

Retail technology investments

Still, retail companies have a long way to go when it comes to frictionless retail at full capacity, as the leading omnichannel retailers only scored between 62 and 69 percent. A survey carried out with retail executives in the UK and France in 2018 revealed that investing in more retail technology that also focuses on omnichannel was certainly on the retailers’ mind. Around one-third of retail businesses invested in improving or introducing their own mobile apps, for example. The same study also showed mobile payments were on the agenda of retailers that wanted to deliver an exceptional customer experience.