An analysis of brands’ online, mobile, and in-store experiences reveals a notable gap in omnichannel technology adoption, underscoring the potential for improvement
NewStore, a mobile-first unified commerce platform for global retail brands, in partnership with commercetools and ChangeCX, today announced the results of its 2024 Omnichannel Leadership Report. In its 10th edition, the annual research initiative assessed the capabilities of 696 retail brands across 10 countries, providing the most comprehensive view of omnichannel retail technology adoption worldwide.
To assess the overall omnichannel competence of the brands, NewStore looked at each retailer’s performance across three key experience categories: online, mobile, and in-store. The results determined the overall score percentages and score percentages for each report category. Through this process, NewStore identified the following brands as the 2024 Omnichannel Leaders: Scheels (US), Nordstrom (US), Massimo Dutti (ES), Golf Galaxy (US), and Foot Locker (US).
While it appears that a group of US brands are at the forefront of omnichannel adoption, that list doesn’t tell the whole story. By looking at the regional scores across the online, mobile, and in-store experience categories, a few global trends emerge:
- Online Experience: Out of the three categories assessed in the report, it’s clear that brands have invested the most in their online experiences. This year, Australia took the top spot, with retailers from the region offering 55% of the assessed capabilities. North America came in second, with Canadian and US brands offering 48% and 45% of the capabilities, respectively. Lastly, European retailers offered 39% of the capabilities, but the UK (43%) and Spain (43%) scored the highest out of all the countries in this region.
- Mobile Experience: Despite the popularity of mobile commerce, this year’s findings revealed that only 32% of brands worldwide offer a dedicated native shopping app. Beyond that, when a retailer has an app, it lacks the basic features consumers demand. For instance, Australian brands that offer shopping apps scored the highest, yet they only offered 36% of the assessed features. Europe and North America scored even lower, with retailers in both regions seeing a 34% feature adoption rate. However, it’s worth noting that Spain led all the other individual countries, with its brands offering 38% of the assessed mobile app features.
- In-Store Experience: This year’s report also proved that brands worldwide have a lot of work to do when it comes to modernizing their in-store experiences. From a regional perspective, North America took the top spot, but US and Canadian retailers only offered 21% of the assessed capabilities. Europe came in second, with brands in this region seeing a 14% adoption rate, but individual country performances from Spain (34%), Germany (17%), and the UK (17%) drove the average score up. Australia didn’t even break into the top five country list because retailers in this region have only adopted 10% of the assessed capabilities.
Overall, the research found that even though brands are making progress, there is room for improvement across all channels. The average overall score for the retailers assessed was just 43 out of 100, indicating considerable gaps in online, mobile, and in-store capabilities. This presents a significant opportunity for organizations to improve and transform. By taking the proper steps, they can capitalize on this potential and differentiate themselves from the competition.
“The findings from the 2024 Omnichannel Leadership Report are clear. The retail industry is evolving rapidly, and while some brands are flourishing, others risk falling behind,” said Stephan Schambach, Founder and CEO, NewStore. “Retail organizations need to take a holistic and continuous approach to improve their omnichannel capabilities because in this new retail era, it’s adapt or perish. It’s as simple as that.
“In today’s commerce landscape, omnichannel is paramount. With over 50% of customers engaging across three to five channels per journey, a unified approach is essential,” added Michael Scholz, VP Product & Customer Marketing, commercetools. “Composable commerce is the key, offering a flexible, scalable solution that enables businesses to launch capabilities faster and stay ahead of customer expectations while reducing costs. Embracing the composable approach is not just a choice but a strategic imperative in navigating a successful omnichannel experience.”
To remove bias, a team of third-party mystery shoppers conducted the research. NewStore also excluded the 80+ plus brands on its platform from the study, which by definition would be omnichannel leaders.
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