Topshop takes top spot in fashion omni-channel survey

Retailer Topshop has been named the best omni-channel fashion retailer according to a survey by global management consultancy Kurt Salmon, ahead of John Lewis and Marks & Spencer. The survey, to find out how well fashion businesses perform across multiple channels, revealed that Topshop,

along with John Lewis and Marks & Spencer had the top mobile offering, while department store House of Fraser was the best executioner of cross channel/order fulfilment and also headed up the social leader board. Whereas Topshop was named the best “in store” operator along with Harvey Nichols, and Asos was the leading exponent in online.

Topshop

took the top spot for its highly engaging content online, the survey revealed, as well as its clean and highly functional mobile site, which integrates well with social media. The retailers’ in-store experience was also commended, with its services such as personal shopping facilities being liken to a more up-market retailer, with a strong service proposition.

The department stores also figured strongly in the survey, with John Lewis winning third place overall and House of Fraser topping the polls on cross-channel and on social media – reflecting both retailer’s strong focus on delivering customer benefits through omni-channel, click & collect and mobile.

Topshop named best omni-channel fashion retailer

However, Kurt Salmon did state that while all these retailers were significantly ahead of the average, that there was “still plenty of opportunity to move from good to great”, as not one retailer demonstrated best practice across all customer touch points. With the survey noting that when it comes to order fulfilment and operating across multiple channels, execution is “poor”.

Siobhan Gehin, Kurt Salmon Partner, explains: “Retailers just do not have the ‘glue’ they need to link all the channels together, so they are disappointing customers and losing sales.

“Retailers who do mobile well recognise that the customer has her mobile phone in her pocket 24/7 - yet, for instance, one retailer with more than 20 million likes on Facebook does not even have an enhanced mobile site which is ‘tragic’.”

According to Kurt Salmon, if fashion retailers want to be more than average, they need to include the following online, in-store, mobile, social, and cross channel/fulfilment into their offerings. By including elements such as virtual fitting rooms, ability to pay using gift cards, offering in-store Wi-Fi, personal shopping services, geolocation abilities on their mobile sites, more delivery options, as well as frequent updates via their social media channels and blogs to inspire customers.