UK Retail Benchmark 2024
Gain an advantage and dominate the competition
See how you stack up against your ecommerce competitors, read our 2024 UK Retail Benchmark Report.
Benchmarking ecommerce journeys
Competitive benchmarking 7 of the UK's top retailers
The quality of a digital shopping experience needs to be viewed through the lens of the customer, from the first search to post-purchase customer support. Traditional metrics like NPS or CSAT only paint part of the customer experience picture. So, how do the UK’s top retailers stack up?
Who is winning on customer experience?
Curry's are the top performing UK retailer with an overall ‘Great’ Quality Experience score.
Explanation: This ‘QXscore’ is based on customer behaviour (successfully completing key tasks on the website) and customer attitudes towards the website. Users were asked to complete 4 tasks:
- Search or browse for a product
- Find a gift
- Find an item that can be delivered or picked up ASAP
- Go through the checkout process
Sample: 700 participants from the UserTesting panel June 2024 (100 per retailer)
Shoppers have mastered the common tasks along the ecommerce journey
The vast majority of participants were able to successfully complete all four tasks.
We see that today's shoppers are ecommerce fluent. Across age groups and devices, these shoppers are clearly capable of shopping with all tasks reaching a minimum of 84% success rate. We're all living in the digital commerce era but there are opportunities to differentiate.
But... too many shoppers encounter obstacles along the way
37% of all participants encountered obstacles or friction at some point in their journey and its here where retailers have an opportunity to differentiate and win!
Despite the digital savvy nature of the modern shopper, the shopper journey is by no means without its challenges. Most shoppers were comfortable completing their journey but still see that 37% of shoppers faced an obstacle along the way.
Those obstacles take many forms, but a few issues consistently bother shoppers. The main issues were around filtering, clarity of next steps and site loading speed.
These seemingly common obstacles make shoppers less likely to return
Shoppers are forced to invest significant time to complete even the most simple task and this has a huge impact on conversion.
Time taken - Find a specific product (mins)
Number of clicks needed - Find a specific product (clicks)
We can see in these two examples that some retailers are requiring up to 15 clicks and almost 3 minutes to complete a task. Obstacles that are driving up the number of clicks and time taken to complete a task are standing in the way of an important result—a returning visit.
Shopper propensity to return is not guaranteed
On average, across all 7 retailers the likelihood of return was reduced by 19%
It should come as no surprise that those shoppers who face more obstacles are more dissatisfied with their experience and not likely to recommend the site to others. In NPS terms, they're likely to be detractors.
How do you stack up?
Stand out in an increasingly crowded market by identifying areas and obstacles you can resolve and start differentiating your digital experience.
Request a personalised comparison to see how UserTesting can help you gain a winning edge. Fill out the form and we will be in touch shortly!
