The Omnichannel Retail Index powered by OSF Digital's Strategy team takes the pulse of digital commerce and omnichannel retail. Launched in 2015 with the NRF, the Index annually examines how leading U.S. retailers and brands are delivering on the omnichannel promise. The Index highlights industry trends and best practices that can help you build your omnichannel roadmap and make more informed and smarter investment decisions.
Economic and supply chain challenges continue to plague many retailers and brands, who have delayed or put the brakes on their omnichannel and tech investments. Still, leaders are committed to digital and omnichannel best practices, resulting in growth in some key omnichannel tactics.
When the Omnichannel Retail Index was first launched in 2015, the overall adoption of digital and omnichannel best practice capabilities was 54%. Today, the average adoption of best practices is higher at 61%, rebounding from last year’s drop to 60% in 2023. Leaders have also lifted their adoption rates, with the highest score reaching 83% this year, compared to last year’s 80%. Best practices adoption rates increased across mobile, store and cross-channel, but remained the same in the web channel. This year’s levels still show much room remains for improvement in optimizing customer experiences.
You dedicate time, resources, and budget to deliver the best customer and omnichannel shopping experience possible. But are you truly meeting customer expectations? And how do you compare to your competition? Based on ongoing analysis of web, mobile and in-store channels, the Omnichannel Retail Index benchmarks key omnichannel capabilities across customer touchpoints. Get your Omnichannel Retail Index score along with industry and competitive insights to help prioritize your omnichannel and digital roadmap.
Through detailed and extensive mystery shopping by OSF Digital’s Strategy consultants, the 2024 Omnichannel Retail Index examines how 106 retailers (15 of which are online only) perform against 150+ criteria across web, mobile, physical store and cross-channel. Constantly evolving benchmarking criteria are based on our deep digital and omnichannel experience and knowledge of current best practices across the entire customer journey. We evaluate the compiled data and assess the scores and rankings that serve as the basis for this report.
While the Omnichannel Retail Index measures the adoption of features and functions, it does not shed light on the implementation or performance of a specific feature. For instance, if Retailer A and Retailer B both include product recommendations on the product detail page, they get the same score. The score does not take into account if Retailer A’s product recommendations are highly personalized to the individual shopper, while Retailer B leverages a basic product recommendation widget. It’s also important to note that a best practice for one vertical may not apply to another. For example, the auto-ship/replenishment capability may be a best practice for pet or office supplies but would not apply to jewelry.
The adoption of best practice criteria does not guarantee retail success. Other factors such as merchandise assortment and mix, inventory availability, marketing, customer acquisition, debt, and worldwide pandemics all impact retail performance. However, the criteria and findings do reveal how retailers and brands meet customer demands, and organizations can use these insights to assess current capabilities and prioritize their customer experience roadmap.
For more information about the Omnichannel Retail Index criteria and to learn how your company stacks up, please contact us.
The Omnichannel Retail Index study annually includes 100-125 leading retailers and brands in North America. Most sell via multiple channels, but the Index does include some online-only retailers to get insights into how both segments perform. The 2024 Index examines companies across 15 different verticals covering apparel, home furnishings, footwear, electronics and more.
While the majority of companies have been part of the Index since 2015, the volatility of the industry slightly impacts the list of companies that are included every year.
