The most digitalized companies in Europe in the area of customer interaction come from the telecom, retail and consumer products industries – Deutsche Telekom tops the list

BearingPoint’s study “Digital Leaders in Europe” assesses 593 European companies’ digital maturity in customer interaction across six dimensions

Amsterdam, November 6, 2018 – Management and technology consultancy BearingPoint has released its annual study on digital maturity in customer interaction that examined 593 companies across 25 industries in eight European countries: Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the UK. The research is based on more than 250 best practice criteria in six digital dimensions: digital marketing, digital product experience, e-commerce, e-CRM, mobile and social media.

Most digitally mature countries, companies and industries

Though no country clearly stands out, companies in Germany, the Nordics and the UK are slightly ahead of their peers in Ireland, Italy and Portugal. Sweden tops the list as the most digitalized country, with Swedish firms ahead on average, but no Swedish company made the top 10. The top four companies come from the German telecom, retail and consumer products sectors. Deutsche Telekom is the overall digital leader, and its digital capabilities excel in each phase of the digital customer journey.

Not surprisingly, the rest of the top-10 list is also composed by telecom, retail and consumer products companies. However, few of those companies are in the top 10 by digital dimension. They are digitally mature overall rather than leaders in one or more dimensions.

Industries like telecom, retail and consumer products were hit by new technologies, international competition and changing customer behavior early on, and they are the top performers in our study.

Alexander Broj, Partner at BearingPoint

Digital leaders from other industries are not as obvious. New, low-cost travel options have forced airlines and other passenger transportation companies to improve the digital customer experience, which can be seen in their positive results in most countries. Similarly, the banking industry, which is struggling with new competition and regulations, is only performing well in Finland, Ireland and the UK; elsewhere it loses out to other industries.

Focus areas for European companies to become digital leaders in customer interaction

• Companies must become better at creating awareness among prospective customers and attracting them to digital channels. 38 percent of the companies surveyed did not get virtually any share of voice in organic search engine results compared with their industry rivals. European companies’ visibility in paid search results was even lower: 62 percent did not appear in ads in searches relevant to their business.
• B2C companies still have a lot of unused up- and cross-selling potential on their webstores. 75 percent do not offer customers related products or more expensive options at the checkout stage, and 82 percent also discard this opportunity in the shopping cart. In this respect, all the countries lag equally apart from Germany, where half of the companies (48 percent) practice cross-selling at the checkout stage.
• They have not yet seized the new opportunities that digital channels offer to minimize customer churn and build deeper customer relationships. For example, only 12 percent of the B2C companies send their customers a reminder email after they have abandoned the shopping cart before the checkout stage; barely half of all the companies offer access to a loyalty program on their website and only 39 percent ask for customer feedback.

About BearingPoint

BearingPoint is an independent management and technology consultancy with European roots and a global reach. The company operates in three units: Consulting, Solutions and Ventures. Consulting covers the advisory business; Solutions provides the tools for successful digital transformation, regulatory technology and advanced analytics; Ventures drives the financing and development of start-ups. BearingPoint’s clients include many of the world’s leading companies and organizations. The firm has a global consulting network with more than 10,000 people and supports clients in over 75 countries, engaging with them to achieve measurable and sustainable success.

For more information, please visit:

• www.bearingpoint.com
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• @BearingPoint