L2 Report Identifies Digital Best Practices for Omnichannel Retailers

NEW YORK, Dec. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital benchmarking firm L2 Inc. released the results from its fourth annual Intelligence Report: Omnichannel Retail 2016.

The report evaluates the approach and performance of 96 retail brands with regards to the key omnichannel areas of site and store integration, shipping and fulfillment, mobile enablement, and retail organization, and identifies "must-have" omnichannel features that retailers can deploy to meet rising consumer expectations. Verticals covered include Department Stores, Grocery, Big Box, Beauty, Activewear, Apparel, and Home.

"Since its inception, digital has accelerated opportunities for always-on interaction and sales channels, but it's taken a while for the retail industry (via infrastructure and technology) and consumers (via behavior and devices) to realize omnichannel potential," noted Evan Neufeld, VP of Intelligence for L2. "Although consumer behavior is catching up, for merchants, successful omnichannel is still the exception, not the rule."

Key findings from L2's report include:

• The Bare Minimum: In L2's review, features like buy online, return in store (70 percent adoption), store locator links in the header of the home page (72 percent adoption), and providing directions to the store natively on their e-commerce site (79 percent adoption) were widely embraced. These features, along with free standard shipping and charging for two- and next-day shipping, represent the bare minimum for omnichannel retail.
• Table Stakes, or Lip Service: Only six percent of retailers analyzed rank as leaders in omnichannel. While 18 percent of retailers effectively use their digital sites to drive consumers in store and 13 percent focus on e-commerce initiatives, 63 percent of brands fall into the laggard category.
• The Full Package: As more retailers begin to stress the importance of e-commerce, last-mile efforts—like packaging and unboxing—are seeing new attention. Among premium shoppers, 51 percent indicated that custom packaging makes the product feel more valuable, and 44 percent said it incentivizes a repeat purchase.

The report features case studies on brands including but not limited to: Argos, Burberry, H&M, Kohl's, Macy's, Montblanc, Walmart.

"New channels for shopping and engagement are irreversibly changing the path to purchase and giving the consumer the ability to convert at any moment—omnichannel retail is about meeting them when, and where, they choose." according to Mike Froggatt, Director of Intelligence at L2.

Download a complete, media-only copy of L2's Omnichannel 2016 report here.

Click here to explore L2's interactive visualization depicting in-store versus e-commerce digital investments across 78 retailer websites with physical stores.

About L2
L2 benchmarks the digital performance of over 2,200 brands across 12 industries globally. Our proprietary Digital IQ Index® is the global standard for measuring digital competence. We analyze 1,250 data points across site & ecommerce, digital marketing, social media and mobile to provide brands with actionable, data driven insights on their digital performance.

CONTACT: Elizabeth Cooke, 1-646-902-4897, [email protected]

SOURCE L2 Inc.

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