John Lewis tops shopper’s favourite stores poll
A new survey, “Consumer Satisfaction Index 2006,” by retail industry analysts Verdict Research, reveals which stores satisfy their customers most and why.
The survey also shows those retailers that have made quite dramatic strides up these ranks, five of whom did not even make the top 10 in a similar survey conducted by Verdict Research the previous year.
Verdict quizzed 6,000 customers about where they shopped most frequently, resulting in a list of 67 retailers. Respondents were then asked to rate the stores in terms of range, price, convenience, quality, service, ambience, facilities and layout. The data was collated to give retailers a score in each of these sub-categories, as well as an overall consumer satisfaction rating.
Top of the rankings in 2006 is John Lewis after three years in second place. The research finds that John Lewis has no equal in terms of customer service and scores highly on all other satisfaction criteria. With its partnership structure, staff turnover is much lower than most of its rivals and the survey shows that customers value the detailed product knowledge and advice available. With a clear price commitment and extended productguarantees, the department store operator commands a level of trust unique among UK retailers.
Narrowly behind in second place is John Lewis’ stablemate Waitrose, up from 20th a year ago.
TK Maxx, the retailer that sells ‘labels for less’ is ranked third, up one place on last year.
[b][i]A more detailed version of this report can be seen in our Research section.[/i][/b]
