One iota launches The Multi-50 to identify the best in retail

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Multi-channel retail technology specialist, One iota, has launched The Multi-50, a quarterly Index that identifies which of the UK's top 50 online retailers are providing the best omni-channel experiences for customers.

The Multi-50 Index takes the UK's largest online retailers, as published by IMRG, to analyse and benchmark their use of connected technologies online and in-store. The Index even begins to measure which retailers are using innovative new technologies such as iBeacons to engage with customers better.

While a recent report from Econsultancy revealed that mobile commerce now accounts for 37% of online retail sales, and 8.9% of total retail sales, The Multi-50 revealed that 29% of the UK's top online retailers still do not have Native phone applications with transactional capabilities.

Damian Hanson, CEO at One iota, said "We were very surprised to find that, although 90% of the top 50 online retailers have an iOS app and 78% have an Android app, they aren't all focussed on driving retail sales, which we believe is a missed opportunity."

"We accept that some retailers often want to try something new and different where native applications are concerned but we believe that not making the shopping journey part of a native application is a fundamental failing. It is proven that customers shopping via native applications spend more money, more often than any other channel."

One iota researched retailers' native apps across three channels, iPhone, Android and iPad, in order to provide an index of retailers' overall omni-channel offering. For each of these channels, One iota also benchmarked whether the retailers used the following technologies:

• Beacon technology
• Barcode product scanning
• Push notifications
• Social sharing functions
• Fully transactional capabilities

Some of the best performing retailers in the index, in terms of the above functionality, are JD Sports, Asda, Argos, and Debenhams, with fashion retailers Next and Marks and Spencer also featuring highly on the list.

Hanson adds: "With m-commerce only continuing to increase in 2015 and beyond, I expect that many retailers will be taking steps to maximise on the opportunities mobile has to offer."

"If the top 50 retailers still aren't providing fully omni-channel experiences for their customers towards the end of the year, then we will continue to see other, more innovative retailers really gaining ground by connecting with their shoppers in new ways."