Schuh tops best performing multi-channel retail ranking

Schuh has topped Ampersand’s annual ‘Multi-channel Retail Report’, which identifies the top and bottom-ranking multi-channel retail brands in the UK. The footwear retailer received 85 out of 100 points, an increase of 23 points, and was praised for its high mobile speed, live stock information, and its click-and-collect within an hour service, as well as allowing users to save products without logging in.

Schuh,, which sells branded footwear including Toms, Converse and Ugg, beat off competition from Argos, which claimed second place, and House of Fraser in third, which was praised for its variety of delivery options including same day, Sunday, evening and named day.

Other fashion retailers who ranked well includes Kurt Geiger, who came in fifth with 77 out of 100 for excelling at live stock information, and offering a variety of home delivery options, however, the brand lost points for “very slow” speeds on mobile and desktop. Also in the top ten was SimplyBe, Cotswold, River Island and Jigsaw.

The bottom overall rated multi-channel retailers included luxury brands Dior and Mulberry, both scoring low on their poor mobile and desktop speeds, with Dior losing 18 points from last year. Other fashion names needing to improve are Thomas Pink and department store Hoopers.

Luxury label Miu Miu was noted as one of the most improved websites, however, it still only managed to score 34 out of 100, the median score for fashion is 57.

Footwear retailer Schuh tops Ampersand Multi-channel Retail Report

E-commerce agency Ampersand surveyed more than 160 UK retailers that have a high street presence and sell online, they looked at the technology and customer service of the websites, such as the desktop and mobile speed, browsing capabilities, whether the brand had a loyalty scheme, and delivery and returns.

Overall key findings included that 32 percent of fashion retailers don’t offer click-and-collect and only 15 percent offer next day click-and-collect, however, the report did note that 71 percent of fashion brands do offer next day delivery options.

The best user experience for click-and-collect is offered by retailers such as Schuh the report added, who have combined geolocation functionality with stock information to establish whether the item can be collected that day in-store.

Another key point was that a third of mobile sites still fall below 50 on the rating, as well as the fact that 5 percent of retailers still don’t have a mobile optimised transactional website, including established retailer Next.

Image: Schuh Website