Digital IQ Index® - Big Box 2016

Despite improvement in omnichannel and mobile capabilities among Big Box retailers, 4 out of 5 customers describe their experience with in-store technology as poor. Meanwhile, Amazon’s launch of “Go” will again raise the bar regarding customer expectations for grocery. With half of US consumers saying same-day delivery options would motivate incremental online purchases, Index brands investing in fulfillment solutions: 48 percent of non-Grocery brands offer either same-day or next-day delivery, and 41 percent offer same-day pickup. However the performance doesn’t always match the promise—last year, 60 percent of buy online/pickup in-store orders placed on Cyber Monday experienced issues. With each new product category Amazon elects to attack offline, its dominance online grows. Across 13 keyword categories examined by L2, The Seattle retailer dominated several by a wide margin, and Amazon now represents for an alarming 80 percent of US e-commerce growth. However, a couple Big Box brands are thriving: Home Depot retains the number one spot in L2’s 2016 Digital IQ Index: Big Box, with a desktop site that features best-in-class omnichannel capabilities, content-rich mobile site product pages, and a recently-updated mobile app featuring live chat, image search and in-store guides. Best Buy captures second place this year, with content-rich brand shop implementations, a sophisticated mobile app that allows users to tap and hold a product to add to cart, and dominance on PLAs for non-branded category search terms on Google. Home Depot and Best Buy’s Digital IQ is markedly superior to peers as these two genius brands begin to pull away from peers. This study attempts to quantify the digital competence of 65 Big Box Retail brands operating in the US. Members can download the full report at L2inc.com.