The IREU Top500 The Customer Performance Dimension Report is now available to read online.
The report analyses the customer experiences that leading European retail brands offer, measuring how responsive these Top500 retailers are via customer service and to those visiting their websites, calling or emailing their contact centres and buying from them.
Ian Jindal, editor-in-chief of InternetRetailing, said: “We’ve taken a flexible approach to what responsiveness means here. It’s measured not only through the efficiency with which a retailer answers a Facebook or email message but also through the speed at which a desktop or mobile website loads. We also take into account the ease with which visitors can browse a website and find the product they are looking for, how quickly they take delivery and, if required, how easy it is to return an item. In looking at all these factors, we aim to get a real understanding of the full customer experience, which does not start or end at the website but continues through a relationship that can potentially last for years.”
The report features an interview with The Body Shop’s Harriet Williams about the company’s shift to a customer-first approach. Case studies analyse the work done in this area by boohoo , Zara , Apple and Swatch while a 12 approaches that work feature takes a snapshot of best practice across Europe.
InternetRetailing research and the metrics that are signficant in offering customers the experience they demand are studied in detail in an analysing the numbers feature, while a second research-focused feature looks at website speed.
The emerging practice feature is about artificial intelligence (AI), and how it’s being put to work both to understand customer behaviour as they navigate a site and to anticipate their needs.
This is the last report building on the IREU Top500 report for 2016. Previous reports, available to view here, Strategy & Innovation, Operations & Logistics, Brand Engagement, Mobile & Cross-channel and Merchandising.
