The retailers with the best omnichannel customer service are…

The largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the world figured prominently in a ranking of retailers with the best omnichannel overall customer service, discovery and purchase.

Ace Hardware, which has more than 5,400 locally owned and operated hardware stores in approximately 70 countries, is among the retailers with best overall customer service, according to the Incisiv Omnichannel Customer Service Index. Ace was also among the top-ranked retailers for omnichannel purchase (ease of placing and receiving orders) and omnichannel customer engagement and service (based on speed and effectiveness of customer interactions. The full alphabetical rankings from the Incisiv study are below.

Top 10 retailers for overall customer service:

1. Ace Hardware
2. Bed, Bath & Beyond
3. Belk
4. Best Buy
5. Coach
6. Dick’s Sporting Goods
7. Lane Bryant
8. Levi’s
9. Macy’s
10. Lane Bryant

Top 10 retailers for omnichannel discovery:

1. Bare Minerals
2. Best Buy
3. Coach
4. Dillard’s
5. Forever 21
6. Kiehl’s
7. Macy’s
8. Sephora
9. Nordstrom
10. The Home Depot

Top10 retailers for omnichannel purchase:

1. Ace Hardware
2. Albertson’s
3. Bed, Bath & Beyond
4. Belk
5. BJ’s
6. Dick’s Sporting Goods
7. H-E-B
8. Kroger
9. Macy’s
10. Office Depot

Top 10 retailers for omnichannel customer engagement and service:

1. Ace Hardware
2. Apple
3. Bed, Bath & Beyond
4. Best Buy
5. Coach
6. Dick’s Sporting Goods
7. J. Crew
8. Lane Bryant
9. Levi’s
10. Macy’s

Additional key findings of the study are below.

• Ninety percent of shoppers begin their buying journey online, yet only 30% of shoppers are satisfied with the service offered during the discovery phase of the experience.
• The department store segment leads the industry in enabling agents to provide assistance with product information.
• The grocery segment ranks last in providing visibility into search history (only 13%) but leads all retail segments with buy online, pick up in store (83%).
• The consumer electronics segment leads all of retail in offering the option to register and manage loyalty accounts (91%), as well as allowing agents to help shoppers with returns (100%).

The survey also reveals almost seven in 10 (69%) of respondents have decided against buying products generally due to poor descriptions. In addition, 82% of respondents are likely to look at multiple locations for information on products, with 45% of respondents feeling frustrated when faced with bad product information.

“The past two years have impacted humanity in deep and transformative ways, including what we, as shoppers, value. Retailers will have to build and refine capabilities to serve these new expectations,” said Amarjot Mokha, COO, Incisiv. “Our goal with the Omnichannel Customer Service Index is to help retailers identify high-impact improvement opportunities based on a nuanced view of what drives superior customer service. Adopting foundational and advanced capabilities can help retailers improve their digital performance KPIs and competitive strategy by promptly adapting to consumers’ omnichannel service needs.”

The Incisiv 2022 Omnichannel Customer Service Index, released in partnership with Genesys, is based on insights from its proprietary digital maturity benchmarking methodology. The analysis spans 102 retailers, 110 digital capabilities and eight industry segments.