JD SPORTS TAKES its place in the Elite group of retailers for the Mobile and Cross-Channel Dimension because it provides mobile shoppers with the tools they need in order to buy the devices they carry around with them, and because it effectively bridges the gap between the store and online. Shoppers can, for example, order online or from a mobile device to collect from any JD Sports store.
The company delivers ecommerce orders to more than 600 JD Sports stores, as well as to alternative collection points with its group. Shoppers can pick up their orders from Blacks, Millets or Scotts Menswear stores as well. The free click-and-collect service takes between three and five days, with parcels available for pick up seven days a week. Returns also take place across channels, with customers able to return items to a branch of JD Sports or to post them to the returns centre.
The retailer makes it easy to find products through its app, first introduced in August 2013, through intuitive search and navigation filters. The speed of checkout was updated in the latest version of the app, released in December 2014. Once a shopper has found the item being searched for, he or she can, from the product page, add it to a multichannel wish list, to the basket, or use social-sharing links to enable friends to comment on spending plans. App users can locate the nearest outlet, whether from a desktop or from a mobile device using store finder functionality.
See the feature on the six KPIs of mobile apps for more information
JD Sports’ cross-channel service operates well beyond the mobile app. It has taken digital into the store, adding kiosks to some of its smaller stores. This, said the company in its latest financial results, for the half-year to August 2014, “enables customers to access a range wider than the physical stores can support”. Shoppers can also order items in store for home delivery.
The £1.3bn-turnover company trades online and through more than 800 stores under a number of brand names, including JD Sports, Size?, Blacks, Millets, Cloggs and Tessuti. It has also taken its cross-channel service well beyond its UK home territory. In its half-year results, executive chairman Peter Cowgill said: “We have launched country-specific JD websites in each of the international territories where we have a retail presence. This enables us to give the customer in these territories a truly multichannel retail experience.”
Related: Online helps JD Sports lift turnover and profits
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