Upmarket retailer Marks and Spencer and supermarket giant Tesco have jointly topped a new poll for customer experience in mobile retail.
In the ForeSee Experience Index (FXI), customer experience was measured across the UK’s top 10 mCommerce retailers, as defined by Internet Retailer.
Of the supermarkets operating in the UK, M&S and Tesco topped the chart - produced by consumer analytics firm ForeSee - receiving a customer satisfaction rating of 75.
Pure-play online retailer Ocado and supermarket chain Sainsbury's came third (73) in the retailer listing.
Regarding the companies featuring in both the top 10 mobile sites and top 40 retail websites, only one retailer, Tesco, was more highly ranked for its mobile site (75) than for its website (74).
Meanwhile, M&S, despite its position at the top of the mobile table, ranked lower than its website score (77).
“The findings clearly show how the top mobile sites are lagging behind the top website counterparts,” said Eric Feinberg, senior director of mobile at ForeSee.
“Established ForeSee research shows that every one-point increase in satisfaction translates into a 10.6% rise in a retailer’s online revenues, which provides tremendous opportunity,” he said.
While as yet mobile sales do not represent as high a proportion of a retailer’s total sales as their online presence, ForeSee found a four-point customer satisfaction gap between mobile sites and traditional websites - indicating a significant performance shortfall on the mobile front and an opportunity that UK retailers can immediately address.
Retailers failing to satisfy through the mobile platform run the risk of damaging the brand and its prospects across all channels,” explained Feinberg.
A less than satisfactory initial mobile experience has the potential to drive shoppers away from other channels such as stores and call centres and opting to buy from a competitor instead.
Research was carried out among nearly 2,500 surveys as part of the ForeSee study.
@ 2014 ESM Magazine
