Marks and Spencer tops Customer Loyalty Index

British retailer Marks and Spencer has topped a new Customer Loyalty Index, which surveyed 2,000 UK adults to find out which three clothing brand or retailers they would consider themselves most loyal to.

Conducted by polling specialist Redshift Research for apparel fit preference specialist Fits.me, the survey found that British consumers were most loyal to Marks and Spencer with 12 percent of the vote, followed by clothing retailer Next with 9.6 percent, while value retailer Primark took third spot with 5.9 percent.

Other brands listed in the Customer Loyalty Index top 10 included Debenhams, New Look, H&M, George at Asda, F&F at Tesco, Matalan, and Asos. However, there was no one runaway brand, as more than 35 high street names were mentioned in the Loyalty Index.

The research also revealed that 71 percent of the people surveyed said that they consider themselves loyal to either one, two or three clothing retailers or brands, while 16 percent said they weren’t loyal to any clothing brand.

British consumers loyal to Marks and Spencer

Commenting on the survey, Fits.me chief executive officer Stuart Simms, said: “While it’s clearly very difficult for apparel brands to secure the expressed loyalty of even just one in forty people, as the Asos share of mentions received clearly illustrates, loyalty itself is very clearly not dead. With all retailers trying to achieve this on a daily basis, this response suggests retailers still have improvements to make.

“The challenge for every retailer is identifying how they can get to know their customers better and how they can systematically put that knowledge to work across their organisation to enhance customer loyalty and engagement beyond transactions alone. As it stands, even the largest retailers and supermarkets can’t assume we’ll simply come back next time.”

When asked which factors would most likely improve their loyalty to a retailer, 29 percent of shoppers said if it "stocks clothes that fit my needs and preferences,” closely followed by if “it has consistently better quality products for the price than others”.

The survey also clarified that over one in five consumers sometimes, often or always find it difficult to find what they are looking for when they are shopping for clothes, while 46 percent always or often find it annoying to search through lots of clothes to find those they want, and 78 percent of respondents agreed that being shown only items that retailers knew would fit them would help them to choose which products to buy.

Image: Marks and Spencer Christmas campaign