CMO.com, CustomerThink, Retail TouchPoints, and other publications. Eric is also a board member emeritus of the Digital
FORESEE EXPERIENCE INDEX: R E TA I L C X I N S I G H T S How brands compete and win on customer experience C O M M E N TA R Y
Eric Feinberg
Vice President RESEARCH
José R. Benkí, PhD
Senior Research Scientist
Rebecca Berry & Jeff Sylvester
Senior Analysts
© 2018 ForeSee
F O R E S E E E X P E R I E N C E I N D E X : R E TA I L C X I N S I G H T S
Customer Experience is at the Heart of the Brand Promise When you deliver great customer experience, you deliver on your brand promise. It’s been two decades since the internet altered the dynamic, but the change was locked in from the start: Customers call the shots — and it’s truer now than ever before. But this also gives retailers an opportunity: Meet a need — by delivering a unique product, meeting a price point, or creating an experience — and shoppers will reward you.
This last point is especially important this year, as
Customers are looking for retailers to make good
you’ll see in our report. Online stores used to be seen
on a promise — a promise to relinquish selling to
as the “endless aisle,” an extension of the physical
them in favor of understanding their needs. Meeting
store and the subservient channel. That’s now been
those needs gets easier and faster when you employ
inverted. Thanks in large part to Amazon, the store is
both digital and physical outlets. In the end, brands
now the fulfillment vessel for digital. Customers search
that are customer-focused do well; brands that are
and explore on web and mobile devices. Maybe they
customer‑obsessed do even better.
purchase there as well (and they’re increasingly doing so — see page 3), but they’re also likely to flip channels
The only way to win is to see who’s winning.
and visit the store to complete the transaction. Tractor Supply’s big success in desktop web (see page 6) proves the point: They gave users a site
This ability to calibrate with customers is driving every
that encourages browsing and research, but also treats
retail trend we see. It’s what makes BOPIS — buy
the store as an extension of that site. And they get
online, pick up in store — so popular, it’s the reasoning
bonus points for aligning the site experience to their
behind Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods, and it’s
customers’ lifestyle.
S E E T H E RA NK INGS »
why brands are merging digital and online experiences.
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F O R E S E E E X P E R I E N C E I N D E X : R E TA I L C X I N S I G H T S
Deconstructing the Customer Journey
ACROSS ALL CHANNELS: STORE, WEB, AND MOBILE
Shoppers take a flexible, personalized path to purchase
41%
26%
use two or more channels during the purchase process
start in one but purchase in another
Customers are channel hoppers driven by convenience. Omnichannel harmony, flexibility, and personalization are rewarded; roadblocks send buyers to competitors. The more touches you can perfect, and the easier it is to move between those channels, the more likely customers are to return.
STARTS IN
S TO RE
ENDS IN
89%
STO R E
3% 2%
OF THOSE WHO S T A R T E D I N S T O R E
23%
visited digital at some point before purchase
28%
WEB
60%
WE B
5%
M OBILE
27% 12% 49%
MOBI LE
3
OF THOSE WHO S T A R T E D I N D I G I T A L
35%
visited a store at some point before purchase
F O R E S E E E X P E R I E N C E I N D E X : R E TA I L C X I N S I G H T S
Brands That Get It Right Winners in store, web, and mobile experiences Customers expect retailers to excel in multiple channels. Some brands are already proving they have what it takes to compete and win on customer
TOP STORES
experience. Costco ranks well in two channels, but mobile is its albatross. Some retailers, like Tractor Supply, peak in one channel. What’s clear is that membership has its privileges. In fact, the success of Amazon Prime makes the online giant more like Costco than Walmart.
4
TOP WEB
TOP MOBILE
F O R E S E E E X P E R I E N C E I N D E X : R E TA I L C X I N S I G H T S
Store CX Winner
Apple makes “being there” an important part of the journey FXI Score
76 .4
E N V I R O N M E N T M A K E S A N I M PA C T
61%
say a memorable store experience is important STORE
1st
APPLE STORES DRIVE ONLINE SALES NEARLY
20%
of purchasers who start in store buy through a digital channel compared to only 5% at the aggregate level
WEB
12th E M P LOY E E E N G AG E M E N T M AT T E R S OVER
80%
“…the shops are so elegant and aesthetically pleasing. It makes me want to stay in there forever.”
of Apple store visitors want assistance from store associates compared to 66% at the aggregate level
MOBILE
14th
5
F O R E S E E E X P E R I E N C E I N D E X : R E TA I L C X I N S I G H T S
Web CX Winner
Tractor Supply knows its audience, creates a personal connection FXI Score
76 .4
+6
Customers rank Tractor Supply’s web experience more than 6 points above the top-50 retailer average
60%
STORE
11th
of their customers have been to the website at least once in the past 30 days
WEB
While most purchases are made in store
20%
1st
of all Tractor Supply shoppers use the website during their journey The site tills new navigational soil with its use of a mobile‑inspired "double hamburger" menu — one each for products and lifestyle.
“I like the menus and the overall look of the site. It's a very country and down-home feel that matches the store and its clientele.”
MOBILE
44th
6
F O R E S E E E X P E R I E N C E I N D E X : R E TA I L C X I N S I G H T S
Mobile CX Winner
Williams Sonoma cooks up a big experience on the small screen FXI Score
78 .1
40%
OVER
20%
of shoppers who start in mobile end in mobile
of Williams Sonoma purchasers use the mobile site during the purchase process
“Lovely pictures using merchandise in a home setting.”
STORE
20th
“…colorful, filled with recipes.” WEB
88.3 FXI SCORE
13th
Baby Boomers score 14 points higher in mobile than Millennials (74.3)
MOBILE
1st
7
F O R E S E E E X P E R I E N C E I N D E X : R E TA I L C X I N S I G H T S
Mapping Retail CX Priorities Sellers race to the bottom, but shoppers don’t follow D I G I TA L P U R C H A S E R S
Conventional retail wisdom says price is paramount,
STORE PURCHASERS
that discounts and sales bring in buyers. But the data reveals a different, more nuanced story:
ST I CK ER S HO CK Only 6% of shoppers selected an item primarily because of price.
Product Descriptions
E XP ER IEN CE WIN S Environment and findability
Merchandise Merchandise
rank as the top priorities for both in-store and digital purchasers.
B R AND LOYA LTY About 45% of buyers
Product Finding
Price
across channels say their most recent purchase was
Environment
Price Service
regardless of prices.
Top Priority IMPACT
S COR E
75% say they shop at a preferred set of retailers
S COR E
driven mostly by retailer preference, and more than
Top Priority I MPAC T
Priority Maps use CX data to show retailers which customer experience improvements will yield the biggest business benefits. In the graphs above, elements in the bottom right quadrant are the most impactful to the business when a change is made. In other words, a low-scoring, high-impact element is ripe for prioritization.
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F O R E S E E E X P E R I E N C E I N D E X : R E TA I L C X I N S I G H T S
Why Customer Experience Matters The data behind the ROI of CX The better the customer experience, the more likely shoppers are to recommend and buy. When shoppers engage with and trust retailers, it benefits the bottom line.
STORE
WEB
MOBILE
85%
81%
67%
more likely to recommend the store
more likely to make an in-channel purchase
more likely to make a purchase in any channel
For one national retailer, a one-point increase in CX led to a $149M increase in revenue
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F O R E S E E E X P E R I E N C E I N D E X : R E TA I L C X I N S I G H T S
Shoppers
Flexible Fulfillment
BOPIS, BORIS, and BORO interest grows
BOPIS
Customers want convenient and versatile pick-up and return options.
61%
Retailers are responding, but not fast enough for shoppers.
87% look for flexibility in returns when selecting a retailer
90% say free shipping is very important when selecting a retailer
BORIS
69% 40%
of customers place a high importance on BOPIS availability
58%
69%
61%
place high importance on shipping options when considering where to shop
relied on it this holiday season, up 25% over last year
use BOPIS, and 23% plan to increase their use
BORO
BUY ONLINE RETURN IN STORE
54%
said the ability to make convenient returns influences whether they purchase online or in store of online shoppers won’t purchase online if they can’t return in store
BUY ONLINE PICKUP IN STORE
BUY ONLINE RETURN ONLINE
won’t buy from an online retailer that charges for return shipping
But retailers are not delivering: Only
10
25% say online returns are easy
F O R E S E E E X P E R I E N C E I N D E X : R E TA I L C X I N S I G H T S
FXI
Category CX Rankings and NPS
P E T S UP P L IE S
How industry subsets are meeting customer needs
24% of shoppers have a separate holiday gift budget for pets
75.9
PETSMART, PETCO
AUTO PA RTS & ACCE S S O R IES Pet and auto shoppers come to those categories with a built-in
ADVANCE AUTO PARTS, AUTOZONE, O’REILLY AUTO PARTS
emotional connection, giving retailers an opportunity to provide
Purchasers who start in desktop are just as likely to stay in desktop as they are to go to a store
memorable experiences. Conversely, fast fashion and tech are
A P PA R E L — T R A D IT IO N A L
more volatile markets, and sell to customers more interested
74.3
NORDSTROM, MACY’S, NEIMAN MARCUS, ETC.
in great deals on new models, and less loyal to brands.
75.4
NPS
24
23
22
39% said brand familiarity draws them to these retailers
H O US E WA R E S
73.9
WILLIAMS SONOMA, BED BATH & BEYOND
20
54% said a loyalty program is very important in their purchase decision
CO M P UT E R S & E L E CT R O N ICS APPLE, GAMESTOP, BEST BUY, CARPHONE WAREHOUSE
73.6
14
More than 25% use ratings and reviews websites to help with purchase decisions
HOM E I M P R OV E M E N T
73.4
LOWE’S, M ENARDS, HOME DEPOT, B&Q
H&M, ZARA, FOREVER 21, ETC.
key retail metric, giving brands important promoter/detractor measurements. It’s
Nearly 80% of all purchases are made in store
AP PARE L – FAS T FA S H IO N
18
Net Promoter Score® (NPS) is another
vital to also know the specific actions you
71.4
16% visit fast fashion stores based on word-of-mouth recommendations
11
8
can take to improve customer experience.
F O R E S E E E X P E R I E N C E I N D E X : R E TA I L C X I N S I G H T S
Retail CX Rankings FXI Scores: 40,000 shoppers rate 50 leading retailers 79 .1
78 .1
77 .9
77 .4
77 .3
77 .1
77 .1
76 .7
76 .6
76 .4
76 .4
76 .4
76 .2
76 .2
76 .0
76 .0
76 .0
75 .9
75 .9
75 .5
74 .7
74 .7
74 .5
74 .1
74 .0
73 .8
73 .7
73 .5
73 .4
73 .3
73 .2
73 .2
73 .1
73 .0
72 .9
72 .9
72 .8
72 .7
72 .3
72 .2
71 .5
70 .9
70 .5
70 .0
70 .0
69 .4
69 .3
69 .1
68 .9
64 .8
The FXI Score is a composite customer experience metric based on shopper interactions with each brand’s store, web, and mobile channel on a 0-100 scale. When two or more scores are identical at one decimal place, the next decimal place is used to break ties and determine rankings.
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F O R E S E E E X P E R I E N C E I N D E X : R E TA I L C X I N S I G H T S
About the ForeSee Experience Index
About the Author and Research Team
The ForeSee Experience Index (FXI) is the definitive customer experience report
Eric Feinberg, Vice President, authors many of ForeSee’s thought leadership and
based on survey data from over 40,000 shoppers across their store, web, and mobile
research studies. He is a frequent guest speaker on customer experience analytics,
experiences. The study was completed using a consumer panel representative of the
Voice of the Customer, and marketing strategy, and has contributed to Forbes,
general population fielded in the fourth quarter of 2017.
CMO.com, CustomerThink, Retail TouchPoints, and other publications. Eric is also a board member emeritus of the Digital Analytics Association, and a graduate of
The retailers in this year’s reports were chosen using the 2017 Deloitte Global
the University of Michigan.
Powers of Retailing study, which ranks global omnichannel retailers by revenue. ForeSee selected the top 50 non-grocery brands with operations in the U.S., U.K.,
José Benkí is a Senior Research Scientist at ForeSee and an Adjunct Assistant
or Canada for the FXI. ForeSee has produced the FXI every year since 2005.
Research Scientist in the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan. He has expertise in survey participation, interviewing, speech science, and
This year’s findings were published in two parts, Retail CX Rankings and
cross‑cultural and cross-language survey research. He is a member of the American
Retail CX Insights. The reports introduced a new overall FXI Score, which is an
Association for Public Opinion Research and the Acoustical Society of America.
omnichannel metric comprised of a retailer’s CX scores for store, web, and mobile.
Jeff Sylvester uses his data science and market research expertise
Each channel’s influence on the overall score was determined by the number of
Senior Analyst
respondent interactions with that channel. This year the reports include both the
to help ForeSee’s retail clients advance their CX programs. Jeff also leads survey
new omnichannel FXI Score for each retailer and rankings by individual channel.
design and internal analyst training initiatives for ForeSee. He holds a B.A. from
Since the study uses a different approach than in previous years, comparisons to
DePaul University.
historical data are not available.
Senior Analyst
Rebecca Berry specializes in improving retailer KPIs across all
channels through meaningful CX analysis and data insight. She graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a B.A in English, Language, Literature, and Writing.
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About ForeSee ForeSee helps companies achieve measurable business outcomes with customer experience solutions that listen to, capture, measure, and benchmark customer feedback – across web, mobile, store, branches or field offices, and contact centers. Organizations use ForeSee CX Suite® and its proven methodology to guide critical decisions and predict business impact with certainty. ForeSee is the customer experience choice for 70% of the Internet Retailer (IR) 100, 90% of U.S. government executive branch departments, 8 of the top 10 retail banks worldwide (and half of the top 50), and thousands of other companies and organizations. For more information, visit www.foresee.com.
Go deeper into the FXI data. Schedule a customized briefing: foresee.com/fxibriefing
