Debenhams tops Episerver’s UK Mobile Commerce study

• Average score for top 30 UK retailers a promising 55%, up 8% on 2011
• But shoppers are less forgiving of poor quality mobile experience as consumer expectations continue to rise  

London, UK, 11th April 2013: Debenhams, Expedia and Argos have topped the UK Mobile Commerce study by Episerver, published today. The report scored the mobile websites and apps of 30 of the UK’s top retailers’* against a detailed best practice benchmark informed by research into current consumer attitudes to mobile usage and experience.  

The study indicates that retailers are working harder to meet rising consumer expectations as mobile becomes an increasingly important part of their digital marketing mix, with an encouraging average score of 55%, improving from 2011’s score of 47% across the top online retailers.

One significant improvement over the last study is in the number of retailers offering an optimised mobile site experience, revealing the increasing focus on mobile sites over apps only. In 2011 30% of the top 10 didn’t have mobile sites, now, only 17% of the top 30 do not.

The Episerver report, entitled ‘Mobile commerce: what consumers really want’, compares new research into the expectations and behavior of mobile shoppers, carried out among 1,000 adults, with the benchmark assessment of the top UK retailers’ mobile websites and apps to see just how many are meeting the expectations of today’s increasingly mobilised consumer.

The 30 retailers have been benchmarked across criteria relating to their mobile offering, spanning native apps, mobile sites, tablet offerings and rating them on speed, key functionality and ease of use. 

Debenhams has toppled Argos off the top spot this year with a very impressive 90%, although Argos continued to perform well, improving its previous score by achieving 85%, placing it joint second with newcomer Expedia.

The overall average score of 55%, despite showing an improvement on 2011, still indicates that there is significant room for improvement for retailers to live up to customer expectations.

The top 10 performing retailers were:

1. Debenhams - 90%

=2. Expedia, Argos - 85%

3. Tesco – 80%

4. Amazon UK – 80%

5. IKEA – 74%

6. ASOS – 72%

=7. John Lewis, Topshop – 71%

8. ASDA – 68%

David Bowen, Product Manager, Episerver, commented, “It is clear that over the last two years retailers have strived to grasp the mobile opportunity. Top performer Debenhams in particular is a great example of how having a solution for each platform and offering a contextualised mobile experience across each is the winning formula for delivering a premium customer experience, and ultimately increasing conversions and sales.”

*Selected from the IMRG Experian Hitwise Hot Shops list