Foot Locker, Bass Pro and REI all landed among the Top 10 retailers on CI&T’s Connected Retail Report. Foot Locker stood out for its “fun and engaging” website, while Bass Pro and REI ranked high for their overall shopping experience.

As part of the study, the retailers evaluated seven categories: Overall Experience, Search, Shop, Cart, Buy, Fulfillment, and Returns. CI&T’s overall Top 10 Connected Retailer Ranking were:

  1. Nordstrom
  2. Target
  3. Home Depot
  4. Staples
  5. Walmart
  6. Foot Locker
  7. Gap
  8. PetSmart
  9. Bass Pro Shops
  10. REI

Among retailers closely aligned to the active lifestyle space, Foot Locker had an overall Connection score of 89 percent and scored high on Search, Shop and Cart with a perfect store on Fulfillment. The Overall Experience score was only 82 percent due to some friction in the shopping and purchasing process.

CI&T wrote in its report in its assessment of Foot Locker, “Clear, consistent branding, clean copywriting and helpful support features were what cost Foot Locker a strong Overall Experience score. The retailer also struggled to secure top rankings among the Cart, Buy, and Returns buckets. Curbside pickup isn’t an option for Foot Locker customers, getting accurate payment and shipping information entered is no easy task, and neither is returns. Our research team was logged out of the site a couple of times, and communication was lacking when an item wasn’t in stock or was unavailable for pickup. Overall, though, Foot Locker’s website feels fun and engaging, and products are merchandised in a smart variety of ways, which is why it scored second-highest in the Shop category.”

Bass Pro has a connected score of 82 percent. The Hunt & Fish retailer had a high Experience score, at 88 percent, boosted by a perfect score on Buy and a high score in Search. However, its Connection score was diminished by lower scores in Shop, Fulfillment and Returns. CI&T wrote in its report, “Bass Pro Shops performed similarly to Office Depot, with a perfect Cart score and average/lower than average scores across all other categories, especially among Shop, Fulfillment and Returns. Bass Pro Shops sets itself apart with a highly immersive brick & mortar environment, but the curbside pickup employee team was unresponsive, not all fulfillment methods are clearly offered on the sites, and multiple return methods proved difficult to accomplish.”

REI also had a Connection score of 82 percent but a slightly higher Experience score, at 89 percent. CI&T wrote in its report, “REI scored the lowest among the retailers for Search and Fulfillment, and it only received a perfect score for Shop. The lack of status alerts for both pickups and deliveries, combined with the inability to easily find the order status on the site is ultimately what cost the retailer a pivotal amount of points in the Fulfillment category. In-store pickup proved to be a slower process than anticipated, but curbside was extremely efficient.”

The study also featured a survey of 530 U.S. consumers from October that explored how their purchase patterns and buying behaviors changed over the last year. Among the findings:

  • Eighty-five of respondents said great customer support/help was important when choosing a retailer, and customer service was among the top three aspects of a shopping experience that would bring consumers back (price and quality were the only two attributes mentioned more frequently, unaided);
  • Eighty-seven percent of consumers chose “getting a good price” as important when choosing a retailer, the highest of any of the choice variables scored. In unaided, open-ended responses, price was the top mentioned part of the shopping experience that would drive repeat purchase;
  • When asked to recall positive experiences across a list of retailers, price was only one of the top two attributes for a third of the retailers; shopping experience was a top-two attribute for all retailers; customer support was a top-two attribute for almost half); 
  • Following price, having a quality product was mentioned most unaided aspect of the shopping experience that would drive a desire to repeat business;
  • Brand Familiarity scored the lowest among variables triggering retailer choice, with only four of the 530 respondents mentioning it as part of their reason to keep shopping a specific retailer;
  • Returns were only mentioned by five of the 530 respondents as a “Keep Coming Back” attribute and were second last among important offerings when choosing a retailer. CI&T still described the returns process as an “unsung hero” in the shopping experience, given the accelerated shift to online selling in recent years.

The full report is here.