THERETAILQUALITYREPORTGlobalInsightsfromtheHolidayShoppingSeasonExecutiveSummaryTheCostofaBugThreeKeyBugClassificationsHowtheCostsWereCalculatedTheHolidayShoppingSeasonWheretoFindMultimillionDollarBugsUXExpectationsAreHigherThanYouThinkKeyAreastoImprovefor2019RetailQualityMaturity:USvs.UKvs.GermanyFunctionalErrorsPlaguedEachCountryUXWillMakeorBreakYourBottomLineShoppers’ToleranceforIssuesVariesbyTypeBuyOnline,ReturntoStoreKeyAreastoImprovefor2019WhereAreRetailersStillFallingShort?ExperiencetheWholeCustomerJourneyasaUserMakeTrainingaPriorityTestDevices,PaymentMethods,andLocationsContentValidationPutCustomersattheCenterofDevelopmentMakethePurchaseProcessQuickandEasy3571321TABLEOFCONTENTSEXECUTIVESUMMARYRetailersarestillstrugglingwithdigital.Whilemanyhavemadeomnichannel,personalization,andcustomerexperiencetopprioritiesforthelastfewyears,mostaren’tkeepingupwithconsumerexpectations.Inordertodeterminewhereretailerswerefallingshort,Applauseconductedadetailedassessmentofthe2018digitalholidayseason,andidentifiedkeyareasforimprovement.Ourcommunityofhighly-vettedtestersscoredthefunctionality,userexperience(UX),andomnichannelmaturityof52topglobalretailers,evaluatingtheirsuccessesandfailuresduringtheseason.Intotal,Applausefoundmorethan3,000bugsinproduction,andmanyofthesewereseriousenoughtoleavehundredsofmillionsinrevenueonthetable.Issuesrangedfromfunctionalerrorstopoorsearchrelevancyandslowwebsitespeeds.Withsomanyerrorsinproduction,it’sclearthatretailersstillneedtostabilizetheirdigitalpropertiestomeetthehighbarsetbycategoryleaders.Tofurtherunderstandtheissueonaglobalscale,ApplausealsocomparedthedigitalexperiencesofretailersacrosstheUnitedStates,UnitedKingdom,andGermany.Eachcountrywasjudgedbasedonamaximumscoreof10:fivepointsforfunctionalstabilityandfiveforUXoptimization.Intheend,theU.S.receivedthehighestUXscore,Germanyhadthefewestbugs,andtheU.K.wastheweakestacrosstheboard.Retailersstruggledinsimilarwaysacrosstheglobe.Notsurprisingly,buggywebsitesorbrandsthatlackedkeyfeatur...
