FitForCommerce Releases the 2020 Omnichannel Retail Index: The Stakes for Digital and Omnichannel Excellence Have Never Been Greater

SHORT HILLS, N.J., June 26, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- FitForCommerce today announced the release of the 2020 Omnichannel Retail Index. The Omnichannel Retail Index, which was first released in 2015 in partnership with the National Retail Federation, is the most comprehensive benchmarking study in the industry. Each year, the Index examines how 125 retailers and brand from over 20 verticals perform across more than 300 digital and physical criteria.

The COVID-19 pandemic has definitively taught us that digital commerce and omnichannel capabilities are more critical in retail than ever. Retailers have relied on digital and omnichannel services to keep their "doors" open and the pandemic has accelerated consumer adoption of digital commerce and omnichannel retailing.

"As retailers scramble to navigate this new reality, meeting the demands of both experienced and novice digital shoppers, the Omnichannel Retail Index provides meaningful insights to help retailers today, as well as important benchmarks and best practices that can be applied to prioritize and plan for a post-pandemic retail industry," said Kathy Kimple, Chief Retail Officer, FitForCommerce.

The Omnichannel Retail Index report, released in partnership with Kibo this year, outlines findings from the latest Index including insight into the adoption of best practices and key digital and omnichannel capabilities compared to previous years.

Some of the key findings in the report include:

    --  Buy Online/Pick Up In-Store is offered by 66%, doubled since the first
        Index in 2016
    --  Buy Online/Return In-Store is one of the most implemented cross-channel
        functionalities, offered by 83%
    --  67% highlight in-store product availability online, either on category
        or product detail pages, an increase from 39% from the first Index
    --  72% of retailers enable store associates to find products that are not
        available in the store at a different store location or online, up from
        61%
    --  69% percent of retailers in the Index offer Next Day Delivery, while
        only 20% offer Same Day Delivery

"The Omnichannel Retail Index captures the most important trends that have occurred in the past year and its findings can serve as an outline for retailers' post-pandemic digital and omnichannel strategy," said Lisa Kalscheur, Chief Marketing Officer at Kibo. "Retailers have been working double time to sustain their businesses by pivoting to digital channels, introducing BOPAC options like pickup in-store and curbside pickup, and have more work to do as the pandemic and the economic recovery unfold in the second half of the year."

For a copy of the complete report, please visit http://www.fitforcommerce.com/items/index2020-media/.

[About the Omnichannel Retail Index]

The FitForCommerce Omnichannel Retail Index takes the pulse of the state of digital commerce and omnichannel retail. The Index examines how 125 retailers perform against approximately 300 criteria across web, mobile, and in-store. Through detailed and extensive mystery shopping conducted by FitForCommerce researchers, the Index depicts how leading U.S. retailers and brands are delivering on the omnichannel promise. For more information about the Omnichannel Retail Index criteria and to learn how your company stacks up, please contact: index@fitforcommerce.com

[About FitForCommerce]

FitForCommerce is a boutique consultancy that helps ecommerce, omnichannel, and B2B businesses make smarter investment decisions on strategy, technology, marketing, merchandising, operations, financials, organizational design, and more. Our consultants are former retail or brand practitioners that leverage their experience to provide strategic and hands-on guidance on everything needed to build, grow, and accelerate your business. http://www.fitforcommerce.com

[About Kibo]

Kibo helps clients deliver on the promise of modern retail. Kibo's Personalized Commerce Cloud is a unified, headless platform that combines AI-driven personalization from industry leaders Certona and Monetate, omnichannel commerce, and distributed order management. Global clients like Office Depot, Taco Bell and Patagonia rely on Kibo to optimize across the web, mobile, search, in-store and across each and every fulfillment touchpoint for a truly end-to-end personalized commerce experience. Retailers can easily manage supply chain logistics, ecommerce and marketing personalization through one system, centralizing strategy, increasing agility and gaining valuable customer insights that maximizes return on investment.

SOURCE FitForCommerce