“All key indicators are up, and we expect mobile sites to continue their rapid evolution in order to meet the customer’s omni-channel expectations that include efficiencies, cross channel access and merchandising consistent with the best-of-the-web,” observes Lauren Freedman, President of the e-tailing group. The goal of our 3rd Annual Mobile Mystery Shopping Study was to follow this evolution as the gap between channels narrows, sharing with the ecommerce industry important benchmarks that shape the customer-centric, mobile user experience.

The Methodology
Based on our audit of 168 metrics on 50 mobile sites (EG M50), the mobile shopping experience has shown strong improvements in overall efficiency of the experience with more consistent cross-channel branding and evolved merchandising, coupled with a proliferation of promotional tactics. A more direct connection between the mobile customer and their closest store location facilitates shopping the customer’s way.

Mobile Customer Experience Index
For the 2nd consecutive year, in conjunction with our 3rd Annual Mobile Mystery Shopping Study, we created the Mobile Customer Experience Index, which leverages quantitative analysis to uniquely understand how mobile merchants stack-up against the 50 mobile websites in the e-tailing group study (EG M50). Mobile websites were scored on a 100-point scale based on an assessment of metrics on five key pages, presence and execution of vital merchandising tactics, along with accessible and effective customer service. Our scoring emphasizes what shoppers truly want and need to shop via mobile. Last year only five sites studied achieved a score of 80+ on our 100-point scale. This year that number doubled to 10 with the overall Customer Experience Index score increasing from 64.56 to 71.53­ — a significant 11% increase in these early days of mobile. One of the sites, REI, was recognized for the past two years as a top mobile performer and is still on our top-ten list. Kudos for the stellar execution!

Key Page Kick Starters
Shared below are additional observations from our 3rd Annual Mobile Mystery Shopping Study. We highlight key pages and show their importance as the “chassis” or foundation of a positive mobile experience. Merchant examples showcase exemplary execution from our most recent study, with trophy-worthy messaging, functionality, merchandising tactics and promotional strategies.

On Your Mark, Get Set…Go!-The Home Page
The home page is the “first impression” and sets the tone for the remainder of the mobile shopping experience.

Shoppers at 1-800 Flowers can hit the ground running with a home page that affords quick entrance into some of the top giftable categories. Notable features include:

• Colorful and appealing visual presentation that artfully uses icons for emphasis
• Gift finder that enables browsing by recipient zip code, occasion and desired send date
• “Featured Collections” for shoppers on-the-move who need quick gift suggestions
• Prominent purple click-to-call button that quickly connects the shopper with a customer service agent
• “Best Retail Mobile Site” award instills shopper confidence
• Facebook and Twitter icons that encourage social engagement

Heaping on the Horsepower-The Category Page
Effectively leverage the category page to draw customers in; it is a “gateway” to the merchandise customers are seeking and eventually might purchase.

Bath & Body Works puts the category page to work as a vehicle for category-centric merchandising and promotions:

• Sub-categories are enhanced with attractive graphics
• Expandable interface keeps page streamlined
• A variety of promotions are offered from $5 candles to those that encourage multi-unit sales

Providing a Profitable Pit Stop-The Product Page
A comprehensive product page should intrigue with engaging product enhancements and entice with relevant recommendations that encourage shoppers to buy more.

Best Buy’s product page includes features that support the decision-making process and ultimately convert customers.

• Features of multiple products can be compared
• Product can be enlarged for a closer look
• Product details can be shared and added to a wish list for future consideration
• Messaging addresses stock positioning and expected shipping time-frames
• “Special Offers” are highlighted
• Cross-channel shopping is promoted by enabling shoppers to find the product in a store location and to ultimately “Pick It Up”
• Relevant recommendations can be directly added to the cart and are positioned to increase AOV
• Customer-centric product ratings instill buyer confidence

Checkered Flag Completion-The Cart
With more merchants implementing a stepped checkout or collapsible cart interface combined with the greater integration of product recommendations and the overall increase in the checkout rating, it is clear that strides have been made that improve the mobile checkout process.

Staples’ shoppers encounter an unusually feature-rich shopping cart.

• Product recommendations are kept well-organized and accessible with an expandable interface; the most relevant items are prominently displayed and can be quickly added to the existing shopping cart
• With this message, “Did you know that Staples now offers delivery to stores?” cross-channel awareness is elevated and a visit to the store encouraged
• Contrasting text draws attention to promotional offers plus shipping and delivery messaging

Pit Crew Assist-Customer Service
Sundance presents a customer service page that includes:

• Comprehensive ordering, shipping, return and payment information
• An integrated guarantee
• The ability to request a catalog

The Checklist
By viewing the best-in-class merchant examples above and answering the questions below, ask yourself, “What can my organization do to close the cross-channel gap and provide an optimal, customer-centric, mobile user experience.

• Are your site’s key pages indeed the “chassis” of your mobile channel?
• Do you create a, flawless, omni-channel experience with branded messaging, visual merchandising, promotional offers and rich content?
• Can customers find it fast through relevant refinement options and keyword searches?
• Do you regularly implement site improvements and test them for usability and performance?

The Mobile Merchants

At the e-tailing group we see hundreds of emails flood our inboxes on a daily basis. A large percentage are consistently the same format with minimal changes being made from email to email, making us question if merchants are becoming complacent or even lazy in their email strategies.

During our 14th Annual Mystery Shopping Study, conducted in 4Q’11 we saw email traffic increase by 5.8% over last year with an average of 2.70 emails being received per week.  The large increase in email volume was due in part to multiple emails sent the same day or consecutively reminding recipients of rapidly approaching promotional deadlines and/or extensions. So while merchants are sending more emails in actuality they are frequently sending the same messaging

Smart, savvy merchants have broken out of this pattern by acknowledging email campaigns as a way to connect with shoppers while simultaneously branding their company through creative and engaging communications.

Here are a few of our favorites:

Gap
Sent: 5/1/2012
Subject line: The New Original Jean + FREE Shipping Every Day

• Creatively makes a basic “new” and interesting again
• Provides outfitting suggestions
• Promotion of free shipping offer
• Highlights family of brands

Lands’ End
Sent: 10/26/2011
Subject line: The Save $40 on $100 + move fast for $10 Turtlenecks – today only!

• Incorporates many merchandising strategies while keeping creative clean
• Iron clad guarantee front and center
• $ off promotion called out in contrast color
• Limited time offer showcased
• New product featured

Theory
Sent: 6/1/2012
Subject line: Office Romance: The Clothes Our Employees Love

• Clothing shown in lifestyle setting makes it understandable how to wear
• “Most stylish employees” verbiage persuades these are key pieces to buy
• Ability to shop by outfit

Nine West
Sent: 5/1/2012
Subject line: Sally Says – We’ve Been Pinned

• Nine West capitalizes on the importance of community
• Most pinned shoes highlighted
• Invitation to follow merchant on Pinterest
• Mother’s day gift guide included
• Spring sale highlighted
• Frequent buyer promotion mentioned

The Checklist

By viewing the examples above and viewing the checklist  below you will be able to gauge how “fresh”, engaging and on brand your email initiatives are and what modifications may be needed  to achieve company goals.

• Do your email campaigns excite you? Make you want to explore further?
• Do you use the same template continually with only minor tweaks?
• Is your email campaign aligned with the company branding strategy?
• Are you optimizing your community to its fullest potential?
• Are you using social media advantageously?

The e-tailing group’s 14^th Annual Mystery Shopping Study, conducted during 4Q’11, benchmarks 375 metrics, including 224 merchandising tactics, on 100 ecommerce websites across 14 consumer product categories.

As ecommerce continues to mature, refinement is the name of the game. Over a fourteen year span of annually mystery shopping merchants we at the e-tailing group, have observed the evolution of browsing, research and buying via the online channel as well as the recent merging of social networks and mobile devices into the fold. We have watched consumers take control while merchants rally to meet their demands for fast, efficient experiences. We have also witnessed merchants becoming adept at marketing to engage and retain these consumers. Here we’ll highlight select findings from our most recent study as it pertains to two of the evolving trends in omni-channel customer experiences-social standing and mobile inroads.

Social Standing

Socialization begins onsite with a goal of customer involvement then moves to Facebook where this study benchmarked 37 features on merchant Facebook pages. Among the primary onsite tactics are landing pages sorts by customer rating, denoting top rated products and providing “ask & answer” on the product page. Links to social networking and the presence of the “like” button are now more prevalent than ever as are social features in post order emails.

Just over half the merchant Facebook pages currently offer some form of shopping with most re-directing customers to the retailer’s ecommerce site but 16% do enable buy now functionality that provides direct access to shopping via the Facebook page. These and other shopping-centric metrics tracked for the first time this year are charted below.

Mobile Inroads

While merchants are focused on refining existing ecommerce strategies, innovation is apparent in the development of mobile as well as social platforms. In fact mobile commerce increased by 75% year-over-year.

New metrics indicate a strong presence of mobile apps too with links to both mcommerce and mobile apps on ecommerce sites helping to bridge the omni-channel experience.

Clearly, our Mystery Shopping Study confirms that merchants are concurrently refining online tactics while diligently developing social and mobile initiatives. Their ultimate goal must be to deliver a channel-agnostic shopping experience whereby the consumer can seamlessly migrate from the physical store to their channel-of-choice based on shopping dilemmas and desires.

A report detailing benchmarks from the e-tailing group 14^th Annual Mystery Shopping Study will be available to purchase and download via at www.e-tailing.com for $395.

THE BRAND MANUFACTURERS VS. THE RETAILERS

Why Luxury? Why Now?

Today’s demanding consumer expects conveniences, craves connecting and has greater access than at any other time. She embraces an A-to-Z of buying options that include Amazon, Gilt and Net-A-Porter on the pureplay front while still relishing retail stalwarts that include Nordstrom, Neiman’s and Tiffany’s. Brands have played their hand in a multitude of ways where early web adopters included Ralph Lauren and Coach while others have only recently embraced the digital world. It is no longer optional to participate in the digital world where branding and selling are part of today’s marketing equation.

There are a number of factors that have recently converged to elevate the role luxury retailing can deliver online and across an array of channels. Affluent consumers have strongly embraced technology and associated devices where tablets and social access via Facebook are part and parcel to daily media consumption.

These same tools have enabled luxury brands to create customer experiences through new marketing methodologies that were never available in early commerce endeavors. The ability to bring their brands to life via video and shoppable lookbooks positions these companies to create experiences that compel shoppers to connect with those whose products they own or aspire to purchase.

Social elements have added a new dynamic that further encourages merchants to connect and communicate with one’s customers and prospects. From fanning one’s favorites to seeing the newest runway fashions or simply sharing with peers around the world it takes community and connectivity to new heights.

The E-Tailing Group Embraces Luxury

For the e-tailing group, it was clear that now was the time for us to take a closer look at such an important sector as Luxury. The goal of our Inaugural Luxury Mystery Shopping Study was to assess a core group of retailers and brand manufacturers from the vantage point of the affluent customer, who according to Luxury Institute News, “rated sites based on visual appeal, navigability, product selection, use of images and text in helping them to better understand product features, security of personal data, ease of purchasing and access to customer service.”

Our Process

As believers that “retail is in the details” it was time to leverage our 14-year mystery shopping track record and bring that same level of diligence to understanding how luxury retailers and brand manufacturers are making their mark on ecommerce, social networks and mobile channels to effectively connect with customers in today’s global selling environment.

In 3Q11 we benchmarked the high-end, luxury consumer experience from information gathering through purchasing. We wanted to select 20 prestige companies that would reflect the brand manufacturers currently going direct-to-consumer and their retail counterparts who have long been e-commerce enabled. In order to find a strong mix, we began by looking at over 200 companies. We had long tracked many of the luxury retailers as part of our Annual Mystery Shopping Study but knew a strong representation of brand manufacturers would be important to round out our list.

We chose to focus on apparel, home and accessories including jewelry as those categories dominate the luxury sector. Initially, sites at a minimum had to offer satisfactory ecommerce and from there we gravitated to those that embraced the channel with some degree of sophistication. It is interesting to point out that many of those reviewed would never have been in a position to be part of the EG100 for our annual study because their orientation centered more on branding than selling. This wasn’t a surprise to us but something we simply factored into the overall index weighting.

The Eg20 Luxury Merchants

Based on our study of the initial group of 20 sellers and the subsequent results, we decided that, rather than take a category-centric approach, a brand manufacturer versus retailer comparison would provide the greatest insights. It will be this comparison that guides our thinking and will resonate throughout.

The E-Tailing Group Inaugural Luxury Customer Experience Index

In conjunction with our Inaugural Luxury Mystery Shopping Study, we have created the Luxury Customer Experience Index, which leverages quantitative analysis to uniquely understand how each luxury merchant ranks against the aggregated 20 luxury sellers in the e-tailing group study (EG20), as well as brand manufacturers (12) and their retail counterparts (8). Luxury sellers are scored on a 100-point scale based on an assessment of metrics on five key pages, presence and execution of vital merchandising tactics, along with customer service execution and accessibility.

Despite the encouraging results for those at the top of our index, it is interesting to note, that only two sellers in our study achieved a score of 80+, with the high score being 83, on our 100-point scale.  These results are relatively modest compared to our more established EG100 index where 10 sites achieved a score of 80+, with 88 points attained by the highest scoring merchant.

We look forward to our next study when we would hope this bar will be raised higher by striking a better balance between branding, merchandising, shopping efficiencies and service. Additionally, we would expect that brand manufacturers will continue to elevate their experiences, putting themselves in a more competitive position.

 
Brand Manufacturers vs. Retailers

As emphasized in the introduction, the e-tailing group Luxury Customer Experience Index was also segmented in regard to brand manufacturer versus retailer performance where retailers outperformed the brands by quite a large margin. 

This we believe is due to the late entrée of many of the brand manufacturers in contrast to their retail counterparts. The level of sophistication that consumers have come to expect particularly for these demanding consumers represents a growing opportunity and one they must conquer to bridge this gap.

BRAND MANUFACTURERS VS. RETAILERS: TOP 10 KEY FINDINGS

Branding

1. Brand manufacturers placed more emphasis on the “brand experience” by creating a central hub which combines salient company information and, more often, rich media elements like ad campaigns and fashion shows which are core to their orientation.
2. Brand manufacturers often delivered more of a “wow” visual experience but were less likely to integrate efficiencies for a total shopping experience.
3. Retailers were more apt to get the “conversation” started by encouraging shoppers to “email” a friend, click the “like” button or by engaging them with a content-driven blog.
4. While somewhat fewer brand manufacturers had a Facebook presence, they’ve clearly done a superior marketing job of attracting followers to their pages (an average of 1,982,166 vs. 466,589 for retailers).
   

Selling

5. Retailers realized the requirements for a comprehensive onsite selling environment and are diligently elevating the experience while brand manufacturers currently face a steeper learning and selling curve.
6. Brand manufacturers did not offer many incentives or customer perks; there were even fewer promotional opportunities than their retailer counterparts and they did not invest in loyalty programs for their customers.
7. Product was the star for both brand manufacturers and retailers, but retailers made greater strides elevating the product page experience. They effectively utilized the product page as a selling tool, highlighting and enhancing the product with creative merchandising via shop by outfit, video and more product recommendations.
8. Presenting a well-merchandised gift center and offering gift cards with free shipping and gift packaging was a fairly low priority for brand manufacturers though seasonality may be playing a role.

Customer Service

9. Overall, retailers made themselves more available to their customers with 800 numbers that were better displayed on home pages, site-wide contact information access and the showcasing of customer service hours and FAQs of commonly asked questions.
10. Brand manufacturers gave customers more limited access to customer service agents for service and product support, a likely frustration for shoppers spending at this level.

Stay tuned for Part II of our Global Look at Luxury series where we explore how luxury merchants create digital customer experiences by leveraging the brand.