Brief:

• Sephora topped a ranking of retail personalization for the third straight year, earning high marks for its mobile and email customization, per a consumer survey that marketing tech firm Sailthru shared with Mobile Marketer. Department store Nordstrom ranked No. 2 on Sailthru's third annual Retail Personalization Index (RPI) with an improvement in its mobile score over last year.
• Amazon ranked No. 57 overall with a strong website score, but lower marks for mobile and email channels, where Sephora, The Home Depot and Urban Outfitters were the top performers. Walmart reached No. 25 for personalization with a strong website score, but average scores on other channels.
• The top 25 brands ranked by personalization share several common characteristics that separate them from retailers that didn't make the top 100. Eighty-four percent of the top 25 brands used mobile push notifications, compared with 10% of brands not in the top 100. Sailthru surveyed 1,500 U.S. and U.K. consumers to evaluate 250 retailers on how well they use data to personalize the consumer experience (CX) in email, website and mobile channels.

Insight:

Sailthru's RPI ranking indicates the Sephora is the brand to emulate when it comes to personalizing the user experience, especially on mobile platforms. The study found that the top 25 brands were effective mobile marketers, separating them from the pack of brands that didn't make the top 100. Eighty-eight percent of the top brands had personalized recommendations, compared with only 21% of brands that didn't rank in the index. For email, 96% of the top 25 brands provided personalized product recommendations, compared with 23% of unranked brands.

Amazon's lower ranking, especially in email and mobile channels, is surprising considering the e-commerce giant has been a pioneer in leveraging consumer data to make better product recommendations. The ranking suggests that the company has more work to do to improve its personalization efforts in mobile and email channels.

Sailthru's ranking of retailers confirms some recent findings by Forrester Research, which this year gave The Home Depot and Sephora the highest marks around mobile user experiences. While Forrester's study isn't directly comparable to Sailthru's, the researcher ranked The Home Depot's mobile app No. 1 for its functionality and strong user experience, while Sephora was No. 2. The Home Depot received the top ranking with an app that works like a virtual customer service agent, helping shoppers navigate stores with maps and inventory information.