TK Maxx tops fashion customer satisfaction survey

Discount designer retailer TK Maxx has taken the top spot in a fashion customer satisfaction survey, ahead of New Look and Next, according to new findings by customer intelligence solutions company, Market Force Information.

Market Force interviewed 3,400 consumers in December 2014 to uncover the best fashion retailer and it found that customer satisfaction and experience was relatively low for all seven retailers who appeared in the survey, with 18 percent of customers stating that they were dissatisfied with their most recent visit to their favourite retailer.

However, the survey did find that those who were very satisfied/delighted with their experience would be twice as likely to recommend the retailer/brand to their friend or colleague, showing the importance of customer satisfaction.

The Composite Loyalty Score found there was tight competition between the brands, with TK Maxx topping the chart with 48 percent, closely followed by New Look at 43 percent, and Next at 42 percent, with H&M coming in at the bottom of the chart with 31 percent.

The study identified four key drivers of customer satisfaction: Practicality - sizing, choices, and value for money; Environmentally Conscious - CSR and green practices, types of materials used, and information on country produced; Just For Me – the opportunities to share fashion tips and ideas/information, customisation, and exclusivity; and Store Operations – the speed of checkout and overall atmosphere.

Customers that indicated their favourite retailer executed on all four behaviours were five times more likely to be highly satisfied with their experience than those who felt that retailers executed well only one or two of these factors. Only 10 percent of all consumers rated their favourite retailer as executing well on all four critical drivers.

The survey also found that engaging with customers is vital to the brand loyalty and satisfaction, and that retailers that have assistants that can create a look and offer support and advice on products were more likely to score a top box satisfaction rate of five. It found that Next and Debenhams were twice as likely to help shoppers and create high conversion rates of sale.

TK Maxx satisfies customers in-store but not online

Although TK Maxx does well in its physical stores, the survey found it failing with e-tailing, with Debenhams, Next and H&M topping the online retailer satisfaction chart. It found that customers were more likely to purchase from H&M online than buy in-store and that Next and Debenhams are almost equal in its percentage share of purchases, 76 percent and 74 percent respectively, while Marks & Spencer’s which has a good satisfaction rate with its website, fails to close in on checkout completion.

Images: TK Maxx