OrderDynamics, a Tecsys company, today released the final country-specific Omni-2000 report. Omni-2000 Research: Germany|Austria depicts a balanced market of omni-channel practices in these countries. Collectively, the region is third behind France (50.5%) and the UK (64.0%) in number of retailers offering BOPIS, at 43.0%.
Additionally, Germany and Austria lead in active inventory visibility when compared to all other countries studied in the Omni-2000: Global Research. While less than 37% of retailers in all countries except France provided inventory visibility to customers, 59% of German and Austrian retailers offered basic stock visibility. The number of omni-channel retailers in Germany and Austria offering buy online return in-store (BORIS) also stands out as significantly higher when compared to other countries at 77.9%.
Across 200 retail chains with a minimum of 10 store locations, additional key findings for the German and Austrian retail market include:
- 11.6% of omni-channel retailers commit to having orders within 24 hours
- 84.0% of all retailers provide free return deliveries
- 10.5% of omni-channel retailers have an optimized m-commerce site
- 9.3% of omni-channel retailers accept Instagram purchases
Customer-friendly returns policies are also common practice among these retailers. While the global average for retailers is 76.9%, 94.9% of retailers studied across Germany and Austria provide online returns policies deemed customer friendly. In accordance with a dominance in returns, the region also leads in free returns shipping. Eighty-four percent of regional retailers surveyed offer free returns shipping. The global average in this area is only 30.4%.
Looking to the future, German and Austrian retailers are tasked with developing social selling capabilities to meet emerging consumer needs. While 85.0% of all retailers in these countries have an Instagram presence, less than 7.0% currently optimize the social media tool as a selling channel.
“German and Austrian retailers are making early headway in offering shoppers omni-channel options such as BOPIS and BORIS,” said Nick McLean, president, OrderDynamics. “It will be interesting to watch as the market continues to evolve and grow.”
Click here to access Omni-2000 Research: Germany|Austria.
