L2 Report Ranks Digital Winners & Losers Among European Retailers
LONDON, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Released this week, L2 Inc.'s Digital IQ Index®: Retail Europe 2016 benchmarks the digital competencies of 58 European Retailers operating in the U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The Digital IQ Index® methodology ranks brands' performance across the online consumer journey (Site and E-commerce, Digital Marketing, Social Media and Mobile) and classifies each of the 58 Index brands as Genius, Gifted, Average, Challenged or Feeble. The report covers multiple sectors—specifically the Grocery, Non-Grocery and Hypermarket retail categories—and includes data-driven analysis and insights into the digital trends, innovations and best practices observed across all five markets.
"Toughening market conditions have created a digital arms race amongst European retailers," said Simon Birkenhead, European Managing Director at L2. "While the U.K. has been the leader in online grocery, other European countries now appear to be catching up. However, retailers in Germany, Italy and Spain remain far behind their counterparts in the U.K. and France in e-commerce and omnichannel capabilities, creating a void that Amazon is rushing to fill."
Key findings from L2's report include:
- European hypermarket retailers' expansion of product offerings and fulfilment options has resulted in a plethora of non-integrated websites and apps. Across Index brands, 30 percent were found to be operating at least two distinct URLs, eroding brand visibility in search and leading to a disjointed consumer experience.
- Online competition in the U.K., led by pure-plays Ocado and Amazon Fresh, has resulted in extensive investment in omnichannel capabilities, with Tesco as top performer in this market. However, in Germany, just 18 percent of retailers offer click-and-collect (an important element of today's omnichannel experience).
- Grocery is the least capable digital category, with three quarters of brands ranked as Challenged or Feeble. Spotting online weakness amongst German retailers in particular, Amazon is aggressively targeting this market, launching Amazon Prime Now and Dash Buttons in 2016 in tandem with launches in the U.S. and U.K.
- Brick-and-mortar retailers are struggling to compete with Amazon for maximum visibility in search. As the largest e-commerce category and an early mover in search optimization, the Consumer Electronics category offers a good barometer for the future.
- Italy remains the least developed digital market, with only Carrefour Italy being classified as Gifted. Half of retailers studied have no e-commerce functionalities and many lack even basic website infrastructure.
The report features case studies on brands including but not limited to: Argos, B&Q, DM, Edeka, Samsung and Tesco.
Download a complete, media-only copy of L2's Digital IQ Index®: Retail Europe 2016 here.
About L2
L2 benchmarks the digital performance of over 2,200 brands across 12 industries globally. Our proprietary Digital IQ Index® is the global standard for measuring digital competence. With offices in London and New York, L2 provides its member brands with actionable data-driven insight to inform capital allocation decisions and improve the return on their digital investments.
CONTACT: Elizabeth Cooke, 1-646-902-4897, elizabeth.cooke@l2inc.com
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