My colleague Alex Causey and I have now finished “The Forrester Retail Wave™: European Mobile Apps, Q4 2018,” the second Retail Wave we’ve done. This year, we evaluated the functionality and usability of six European retailers’ mobile apps. For retailers with a pan-European presence, we selected one European market in which to evaluate the retailer’s app (by selecting that market as the location within the app settings). These retailers’ app locations spanned the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain, including both pure players and brick-and-mortar retailers.

Four of the brands we reviewed achieved Leaders status, with the other two reaching the Strong Performers category. But it was ASOS’s mobile app that reached the top spot, combining the best functionality (with a score of 85 out of a maximum of 100) together with an excellent user experience (77 out of 100).

Key takeaways from this Retail Wave include:

  • Balance functionality and user experience for your loyal app customers. A retailer’s most loyal customers download and use its mobile app, so creating an exceptional shopping experience is very important. Retailers must balance launching innovative or leading functionality with the need to support a great user experience.
  • ASOS, Zalando, John Lewis, and Amazon lead the way in Europe. Forrester’s research found that ASOS, Zalando, John Lewis, and Amazon lead the pack. H&M and Zara offer competitive options.
  • Design, develop, and deliver mobile apps to support end-to-end customer experiences. Mobile will increasingly be the hub of a customer’s digital experience. For their mobile app, digital executives should design and implement value-added features and a user experience that supports the customer across multiple contexts.

For further insights, you can find the report here.