Two in five consumers feel no loyalty to fashion retailers

New research into customer expectations of brand loyalty has found that 42 percent of consumers feel no loyalty to any fashion retailer, while nearly half of UK consumers (47 percent) believing it no longer pays to be loyal.

The report by customer engagement, loyalty and lifetime optimisation specialist Ello Media, also added that more than a third of consumers across all market sectors said they would be loyal to brands if they got true value for their loyalty.

When asked about how they like their loyalty to be rewarded by brands, respondents identified supermarket vouchers (53 percent) as the option they felt offered them the best value for staying loyal, followed by restaurant discounts (24 percent) and cinema discounts or tickets (19 percent).

When it comes to which fashion retailer consumers felt the most loyalty towards, Primark led the high street with 17 percent, followed by Next, identified by just 8 percent of consumers, and TK Maxx, Asos and Debenhams are joint third with 5 percent. The brands rounding up the top ten fashion retailers are H&M, River Island, Topshop/Topman, Boohoo and Missguided.

Consumers reported that aside from cost, the biggest influences on their decision to change the fashion retailer they purchased from are poor customer service (24 percent) and their retailer of choice not stocking the latest trends (22 percent).

Commenting on the report, Michael Kalli, managing director for Ello Media, said in a statement: “The findings of the report reflect that consumers will be loyal when they feel they are receiving real value from fashion retailers for doing so.

“Rapid developments in data capture have presented fashion retailers with an incredible opportunity to learn more about their customers than ever before,” Kalli continued “Yet many brands still aren’t making full use of the technology on offer, leading to their loyalty schemes failing to meet customer expectations. With it costing five times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to retain an existing one, it is in fashion retail brands’ best interests to start improving their loyalty programmes in earnest.”

The Understanding Customer Expectations of Brand Loyalty Programmes report draws on a survey of 1,000 UK consumers.

Image: courtesy of Primark