Originally published by Marianne Wilson, Chain Store Age.
Beauty giant Sephora scores the highest when it comes to online gifting.
That’s according to RSR Research’s sixth annual digital gifting benchmarking report. Sephora came out on top, scoring 55 points out of a possible 66 points, followed by Starbucks (50.5) and The Home Depot (46.5). Rounding out the top five: Dunkin’ Donuts (44.5) and Amazon (43). (The top 25 retailers in the study are listed at the end of article.)
Sephora achieved top marks this year due primarily to consistently excelling across the study’s three major categories of criteria: discoverability, purchase experience and recipient experience. RSR Research updates the criteria used for evaluation every year to highlight differentiating capabilities, rather than the features that have become industry standards.
Of the 100 merchants evaluated in the study, “Digital Gift Cards In 2016: Where Omni-Channel Strategy Meets Customer Expectations,” 81 offered digital gift cards. In addition to focusing on the importance of mobile, this year’s report includes new evaluation criteria like omnichannel payment, bulk buying and the ability to purchase cards with credit card loyalty program points.
The full report can be downloaded from the CashStar Resource Center.
