House of Fraser is UK’s most prepared department store online, claims new study
As the retail sector gears up for the holiday season surge, a new study by commerce agency Ampersand has revealed that House of Fraser is the UK’s most prepared department store online. According to Ampersand, House of Fraser’s flexible fulfilment options, including same day delivery in London and Birmingham, locker collection services and free standard delivery (all key features for consumers during the gift buying season) helped it edge in front of M&S, BHS and Selfridges.
The study found that department stores need to focus on a range of services to provide the best online experience. Some of these feature are connected to website design and functionality – fast page loading, clear navigation and a “persistent cart”, for example – but the delivery process was very much to the fore.
Darryl Adie, Managing Director at Ampersand, said: “I imagine many will be surprised to learn that stores such as House of Fraser and BHS beat out John Lewis, according to our research. Having a robust multichannel offering in place is key for high street retailers looking to compete with pure plays over Christmas and this is something House of Fraser does particularly well.
“At Christmas a consumers need to trust that they will receive order gifts in-hand. The in-store experiences of Selfridges and John Lewis may be designed to wow shoppers ahead of Christmas, however, their delivery services for online ordering fall short in several key areas when compared to other department stores.”
Summarising some of the key report findings, Ampersand commented: “With many now doing their Christmas shopping online, and almost half (49%) of consumers having used click and collect, effective fulfilment is paramount to ensuring that consumers eager to purchase gifts are not left empty-handed. Matalan, which just made the top ten, lost points for its comparatively long lead time, of 6-7 working days for click and collect. All of the other stores in the top ten have a next day lead time, with Argos processing its click and collect orders immediately.”
(It is worth noting here that Argos launched its new Fast Track UK-wide same day home delivery and store collection service last month, and today – 6 November – it launched a new limited-period promotion offering free same day deliveries and store collection on orders of £50 or over.)
Ampersand continued: “John Lewis, a store usually associated with the festive season due to its annual ad campaigns, lost points for not offering automatic geolocation services on its desktop website and for limited express delivery options. Surprisingly, Debenhams lost points for not offering faceted navigation – allowing users to filter a list of products by many criteria – something which is essential to shopping online and, according to Ampersand’s research, 81% of the department stores surveyed provide.
“Luxury stores such as Harrods and Liberty missed out on the top ten due to their limited delivery options and relatively long lead times for click and collect, or in Harrods’ case for not offering click and collect at all. Although not scored, it’s also worth noting their relatively high charges for next day delivery (both above £10).”
The top department stores according to Ampersand’s research:
| Position | Retailer |
| 1 | House of Fraser |
| 2 | Marks and Spencer |
| =3 | BHS |
| =3 | Selfridges |
| =5 | Argos |
| =5 | Debenhams |
| =5 | John Lewis |
| =8 | Tesco Direct |
| =8 | George (Asda) |
| 10 | Matalan |
The copy of the Ampersand study can be downloaded here.
