Amazon tops the customer satisfaction charts - TTI Global releases fresh insights for the retail sector

The latest insights from TTi Global Research’s Benchmark survey, compares customers satisfaction across six huge UK brands, Amazon, eBay, M&S, John Lewis, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

New data from TTi Global Research’s latest benchmarking survey brings to light interesting insights across the retail sphere.

Focusing on two major players from each retail subset - Amazon and eBay in online retail; high street retailers, M&S and John Lewis; and supermarket giants, Sainsbury’s and Tesco – we compare the customer interactions that most frustrate and delight, and what retailers can do to address problems and increase customer loyalty.

The key findings from the retail benchmark survey:

• Although online-only retailers scored better than physical premium and supermarket retailers, consumers stated that they want to see refund systems improved – in fact this had the lowest satisfaction score of any retail interaction.
• Store layout and clear pricing scored very highly in both online (9.1/10) and physical (9.2).
• Third-party services must be taken into account by brands when assessing their brand reputation – for example, when expressing their dissatisfaction with a retailer, consumers repeatedly mentioned poor delivery service, even though these are provided through a third party company.

The overall satisfaction scores for our six major retailers were as follows:

• Amazon: 8.98
• eBay: 8.75
• M&S: 8.68
• John Lewis: 7.6
• Tesco: 7.7
• Sainsbury’s: 7.1

Amazon and eBay’s slick navigation, easy ordering, (generally) good delivery, responsive customer service and low customer effort all contributed to the top customer satisfaction scores.

Marks and Spencer and John Lewis were both noted for excellent product quality, returns process, and helpfulness of staff. It's surprising therefore, that given John Lewis's reputation for great customer service, that their overall customer satisfaction was low.

Tesco and Sainsbury’s customers praised the quality of their products, but were frequently unhappy about stock levels and the ability of staff to resolve problems.

Glyn Luckett, Commercial Director at TTi Research, commented:

“When staff are generous with their time, knowledgeable, and sympathetic, they cause customer satisfaction scores to skyrocket. Conversely, rude and unhelpful staff, and being unable to resolve a complaint, send consumers into a spin.

This seems like an obvious correlation, but if customer satisfaction is so integral to customer loyalty, why are retailers not investing more in customer service analysis and training to reduce that gap between the level of service customers expect from a company, and what they get?”

To read some examples of real customer feedback from the survey on each of the big 6 retailers, visit the summary article published on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/which-uk-retailers-winning-customer-satisfaction-glyn-luckett/

For further information on TTi Global's Benchmarking Survey, contact Glyn Luckett at TTi Global Research: gluckett@tti-global.com or call 01753 214000 or visit www.tti-global-research.co.uk.