News

Secret shopper study gauges cross-channel readiness

May 7, 2013

CrossView Inc., a provider of e-commerce solutions and services, today released the results of its 2013 Cross-Channel Readiness study. Out of a possible 295 points, the 80 retailers studied averaged a score of 192 over four touch points — online, in-store, call center and mobile.

Best Buy led the pack of retailers with the highest average score followed by Sears. Newcomers to the list included OfficeMax, Zumiez and Walmart. The Arkansas-based retailer's arrival on the list coincides with its endeavor to deploy an omnichannel strategy.

More than any channel, mobile showed the most movement with significant upticks in multiple areas. Results show 88 percent of retailers included in the study offer a mobile website, up from 73 percent last year and 12 percent in 2011. Additional features that saw significant increases across the retailers surveyed include:

• Access a pending order via mobile — up 49 percent
• In-store pickup — up 48 percent
• View of whether product is in stock at a local store — up 38 percent
• Mobile marketing and promotions — up 30 percent

"After many years of hype, 2013 seems to be the year of mobile, at least in the interest and investment by retailers in mobile-enabling technology," said Doug Meacham, senior retail strategist at CrossView. "But it also appears that the focus on mobile has come at the expense of growing critical cross-channel capabilities, and this does not align with customer expectations."

Read more about multichannel retailing.