Flawed customer experiences are costing British retailers up to £102 billion in lost sales each year.

This is according to new research commissioned by Adyen among 811 UK consumers and 95 senior retail decision-makers during the first quarter this year.

It found that running out of stock in-store is the biggest contributor to lost revenue, costing retailers £14.8 billion each year, with 79 per cent of Brits stating they would not return to make a purchase if they went into a store only to find their desired item was out-of-stock.

Queues in-store are the second biggest source of lost revenues, costing retailers up to £11.3 billion each year, with two thirds of respondents saying they have abandoned purchases and left a store because of long queues in the past six months. Only 22 per cent said they would return to the store later or make a purchase on another channel.

Failing to create a link between online and offline stores, not offering a variety of payment options, a lack of contextual commerce experiences, not personalising offers and outdated payment systems are the other customer experience factors that contribute to lost revenue for retailers.

Adyen also asked consumers how retailers could improve the customer experience. The top results were:

• Accepting contactless payments (68 per cent)
• Enabling people to skip queues by paying for items in-store via mobile app (55 per cent)
• Accepting digital wallets such as Apple Pay or Google Pay (54 per cent)
• Enabling customers to check a store’s stock levels online (51 per cent)
• Buy now and pay later options (50 per cent)
• Saving payments details on file to speed up the checkout process (48 per cent)

Myles Dawson, UK managing director of Adyen, said that while trading conditions are undoubtedly challenging and it can be hard for retailers to keep up, the shopping experience is clearly lacking in the eyes of the consumer.

“Fortunately, some of these elements can be addressed, particularly when it comes to one of the biggest pain points – stores running out of stock,” he continued. “Creating an endless aisle by linking physical stores with e-commerce channels will help shoppers avoid disappointment by enabling them to check stock levels before they go into a store.”

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