WELCOME TO THE latest IREU Top500 Performance Dimension Report, which this time focuses on Mobile & Cross-channel.
While the mobile sales channel has only emerged in recent years, its strategic importance cannot be underestimated. The fast uptake of smartphones, and the growing appetite to browse and buy with them is currently driving both online sales and retail sales as a whole. Mobile devices are now remote controls that customers use to organise their lives – including the search for and acquisition of products, from the utilitarian purchases of groceries and school uniforms through to more leisurely hunts for fashion items, entertainment and gifts.
The smartphone is a device as suited to urgent purchases as to gentle browsing, depending on the context. Retailers that understand this are using a variety of means to serve customers along their journeys – from fast mobile websites through to apps equipped with tools such as barcode scanners, store locators and augmented reality – while also offering cross-channel services that link the store and online.
But while some lead, adopting the latest tools and approaches to selling via mobile and across channels, these cutting-edge performers are well ahead of the average. Our research enables us to look for the true picture behind the hype in order to give an understanding of where European performance is, while measuring the incremental improvements that traders are making to their businesses.
This Dimension Report is the latest installment in a research programme that started in the UK and has now extended to the European context, analysing the ecommerce and multichannel performance of leading retailers. It does so through the prism of six key themes, which are listed in the panel to the right. All are informed by the hard data that our research team produces, working in partnership with our trusted InternetRetailing Knowledge Partners. This data tells us how brands and retailers are working across the European Economic Area, plus Switzerland, to extend services developed in their domestic markets to a far wider audience. Along the way, we’re identifying and sharing lessons that can be learned from this deeper understanding of how retailers sell in practice. It’s a challenge, but one that we’re enjoying.
We hope that our readers will share our fascination with these emerging findings and, as always, we’re interested in hearing what you think. Please do share your thoughts.
Ian Jindal
Editor-in-chief
The IREU Top500 Dimension Reports Series
Don’t forget that this Mobile & Cross-channel Dimension Report forms part of our wider series analysing the performance of Europe’s retailers.
Reports each year that focus on:
• Strategy & Innovation
• The Customer
• Operations & Logistics
• Brand Engagement
• Mobile & Cross-channel
• Merchandising
You can also subscribe here, and we will also send you the latest Dimension Reports as they are published, allowing you to keep abreast of the latest developments in the industry.
