John Lewis Named Top Mobile Retailer in 2015 Episerver Benchmark

John Lewis offers the best consumer mobile shopping experience, closely followed by Argos and Expedia, according to this year’s Episerver Mobile Commerce report. The annual study of the UK’s top 20 retailers , now in its fourth year, reveals that, overall, retailers have improved upon their delivery of a seamless and sophisticated mobile experience for consumers, reflected by an average score of 57% compared to just 47% last year.

The Episerver study, scored consumer retail experiences across mobile sites, plus Android and iOS apps on both smartphones and tablets. The benchmark, now consisting of 50 different criteria, reflects the evolving demands of consumers, as identified in a survey of 1,000 UK smartphone and tablet users this year. These include location-based tools, omnichannel experiences such as ‘click and collect’, direct lines to contact customer services from within apps, and social sharing.

John Lewis has topped the UK retailer table for the second year in a row with a score of 84%, demonstrating a consistently good mobile strategy across its Android and iOS apps, as well as the mobile site. The retailer’s mobile strategy has ensured apps deliver smooth experiences that reflect the main site and John Lewis branding, with great user involvement features including location services that suggest the nearest store and strong navigation and search functions.

Apple secured the highest scoring mobile website for 2015,with Boots performing well for its iPhone app and M&S securing impressive scores for its Android experience. In contrast, retailers including Debenhams and AVG achieved below average scores this year.

Overall, retailer scores were higher in 2015 compared to 2014, despite the scoring criteria being particularly tough to put retailers through their paces. David Bowen, Director, Product Management for Commerce at Episerver, explains: “This year we have seen a massive improvement in the approach taken by retailers to develop a sophisticated and seamless mobile experience, emphasised by the average score rising by 10 percentage points.

“The top performing retailers in 2015 have demonstrated their ability to evolve their mobile strategies to meet the demands of consumers, offering added value features that mix clicks with bricks, personalized content and a consistent, quality experience to every user, regardless of the device and platform.”

Scores from the leading 20 retailers varied from 84% to the lowest score of 23%, with an overall average of 57%. The top five performing retailers are:

1. John Lewis – 84%
2. Argos – 75%
3. Expedia – 70%
4. Amazon UK – 67%
5. M & S – 65%

Other retailers that performed well against the new criteria include Tesco (62%), B&Q (61%) and ASOS (60%).

Notes to Editors

Research methodology
The survey of 1,000 smartphone and tablet owners in the UK was conducted by ResearchNow in June 2015. Episerver commissioned the retail benchmark study in June 2015, carried out among the top 20 retailers in the UK according to IMRG. The scoring was based on the mobile experiences delivered across a mobile site, iPhone app, iPad app, Android smartphone app and Android tablet app. Each retailer was scored on a set of criteria covering the functionality of each app and mobile site, and how well they met the experience expectations identified in the consumer research.

A percentage score was awarded to each retailed based on performance against the criteria and marks out of a total 810 points were available.

For media information, please contact:
Alex Warren/Alisha Pandya
Wildfire PR
Episerver@wildfirepr.com 
020 8408 8000