John Lewis won the 2011 Golden Chariot award for online retail delivery excellence at an event hosted last week by Snow Valley. The award is given to the retailer that provided an outstanding service when tested for Snow Valley’s annual Online Retail Delivery Report.

The report, sponsored by delivery management specialists MetaPack, put over 200 retailers to the test. A live order was placed on each site and over 40 aspects of the retailer’s service were evaluated, including speed, customer service, flexibility, and charges. John Lewis scored highly across every aspect of their delivery service. Swift fulfilment was combined with fast, accurate responses to all the customer service enquiries made by e-mail, telephone, and Twitter. Flexibility was also superb: orders can be placed as late as 7pm for next-day or in-store delivery and customers can choose from four home delivery options, including nominated day and delivery by 10.30.

Four retailers also picked up Silver Chariot awards: Best Cross Channel Service - TopShop; Kiddicare for Best Customer Service; Jo Malone for Best Brand Experience; ASOS for Best International Delivery.

Carlo Rimini, CEO at Snow Valley, says: “This year’s Online Retail Delivery Report shows true progress in nearly every aspect of home delivery - the fact that nearly 70 per cent of retailers can now offer a choice of delivery options, up from 54 per cent in 2005, shows that customers are getting the flexibility that they want. And we’re getting faster: 10 per cent of orders arrived next-working day on a standard service, which is fantastic. It’s also pleasing to see so much innovation - same-day delivery, text messaging, and being able to collect from a store or a corner shop are just a few examples.”

“We have a strict policy that we never ‘name and shame’ in our report, because we know that retailers, carriers, and other suppliers are generally trying very hard to give a good service to customers. However, we want to share examples of outstanding performance and the Golden Chariot awards allow us to do that.”

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