New Benchmark Research from Incisiv and Genesys: Only 15% of Retailers Offer a Differentiating Experience When it Comes to Omnichannel Customer Service

While omnichannel customer service is a table stakes expectation amongst shoppers, the degree of service varies dramatically among both industry segments as well as individual retailers; big box, department store and specialty retailers lead the way for superior customer service.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–As the buying journey has been forever altered, with it have come new expectations around customer service. While the retail industry has made significant advancements in providing better visibility into promotions and order tracking, it still significantly lags in expert assistance, order modifications post purchase and making shoppers’ order history available to customer service agents.

According to new insights released today by Incisiv, in partnership with Genesys, 1 in 2 brick and mortar retailers are Laggards or Followers in terms of omnichannel customer service. The Incisiv 2022 Omnichannel Service Index benchmarks top retailers’ ability to provide a seamless customer service experience across channels. Additional key findings of the report include:

  • 90% of shoppers begin their buying journey online, yet only 30% of shoppers are satisfied with the service offered during the discovery phase of the experience.
  • The department store segment leads the industry in enabling agents to provide assistance with product information.
  • The grocery segment ranks last in providing visibility into search history (only 13%) but leads all retail segments with buy online, pick up in store (83%).
  • The consumer electronics segment leads all of retail in offering the option to register and manage loyalty accounts (91%), as well as allowing agents to help shoppers with returns (100%).

This year, Incisiv recognizes 20 retailers and brands as Omnichannel Customer Service Leaders, including Ace Hardware, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Macy’s, REI, Target and Walmart. The complete list of Leaders is available to download here.

“The past two years have impacted humanity in deep and transformative ways, including what we, as shoppers, value. Retailers will have to build and refine capabilities to serve these new expectations,” said Amarjot Mokha, Chief Operating Officer, Incisiv. He added, “Our goal with the Omnichannel Customer Service Index is to help retailers identify high-impact improvement opportunities based on a nuanced view of what drives superior customer service. Adopting foundational and advanced capabilities can help retailers improve their digital performance KPIs and competitive strategy by promptly adapting to consumers’ omnichannel service needs.”

The Incisiv assessment methodology spans over 110 measurable attributes across three areas of retailers’ service experience, including discovery, purchase, and 360-degree service. Attributes are categorized as table stakes or differentiating, based on their impact on key digital performance metrics such as average order value (AOV) and conversion. The index assesses a total of 102 retailers across eight retail segments.

Click here to download the complete findings from the Incisiv 2022 Omnichannel Customer Service Index.

Survey Methodology

The Incisiv 2022 Omnichannel Customer Service Index is based on insights from its proprietary digital maturity benchmarking methodology. The insights span 102 retailers, 110 digital capabilities and eight industry segments.

About Incisiv

Incisiv is a next-generation industry insights firm that helps retailers and brands navigate digital disruption in their industry. Incisiv offers consumer industry executives responsible for digital transformation a trusted platform to share and learn in a non-competitive setting, and the tools necessary to improve digital maturity, impact and profitability. More information is available at incisiv.com.

Contacts

Catherine Seeds
catherine@ketnergroup.com
512.947.4062

Author Information

As a detail-oriented researcher, Sherril is expert at discovering, gathering and compiling industry and market data to create clear, actionable market and competitive intelligence. With deep experience in market analysis and segmentation she is a consummate collaborator with strong communication skills adept at supporting and forming relationships with cross-functional teams in all levels of organizations.

She brings more than 20 years of experience in technology research and marketing; prior to her current role, she was a Research Analyst at Omdia, authoring market and ecosystem reports on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and User Interface technologies. Sherril was previously Manager of Market Research at Intrado Life and Safety, providing competitive analysis and intelligence, business development support, and analyst relations.

Sherril holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from University of Colorado, Boulder and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Rutgers University.

SHARE:

Latest Insights:

Oracle Database@AWS Launches in Virginia and Oregon With More Regions on the Way, Bringing Exadata and Autonomous Database Capabilities to AWS Customers
Brad Shimmin, VP and Practice Lead at Futurum, shares his insights on Oracle Database@AWS, which brings Oracle’s Exadata and Autonomous Database services directly to AWS data centers with AI and zero-ETL capabilities.
Dell and CoreWeave Partner To Deploy NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 Systems, Signaling the Upcoming Ramp-up of GB300 in Q4 2025
Ray Wang, Research Director at Futurum, shares insights on Dell’s early deployment of NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 systems with CoreWeave. The launch sets a new standard in rack-scale performance for AI reasoning and cloud infrastructure.
Ruba Borno and Karan Batta delve into the innovative Oracle Database@AWS offering, exploring its impact on accelerating cloud migrations for enterprise workloads.

Latest Research:

In our latest Market Brief, From Data Chaos to AI Clarity: Activating AI Through High-Quality Enterprise Data, published in partnership with IBM, Futurum explores the core challenges enterprises face in deploying AI and presents a blueprint for overcoming them through smarter data strategies and tools.
In our latest market study, Scaling Smarter: How Google Cloud Marketplace Is Reshaping Partner Sales and GTM Strategy, Futurum uncovers the strategies and results from top-performing ISVs and channel partners leveraging the Google Cloud Marketplace as a transformational sales platform.
In our latest market brief, Unlocking the Future of Hybrid Cloud with Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization, developed in partnership with Red Hat, The Futurum Group outlines the evolving virtualization landscape, the economic and operational drivers behind infrastructure modernization, and the technical innovations powering OpenShift’s hybrid cloud strategy.