Poll: Customer satisfaction dips in retail sector

Takashimaya department store, supermarket chain Sheng Siong as well as fashion labels Uniqlo and Zalora have received the thumbs up from consumers, but a study shows that customer satisfaction in the retail sector has declined.

These findings, released yesterday, come from an annual study by the Institute of Service Excellence at Singapore Management University.

Customer satisfaction in the retail sector - which comprises department stores, fashion apparel, supermarkets and e-commerce - fell by 1.5 per cent compared with last year, scoring 71.3 points out of a possible 100.

The other sector that was tracked - infocommunications - saw satisfaction improving by 1.9 per cent, with 69.8 points, reversing two years of decline.

The study involved face-to-face and online interviews, with 4,800 local consumers polled between January and April this year. The findings come a day after the Department of Statistics revealed that retail sales surged 17.8 per cent year on year in May, extending a 12.1 per cent growth in April.

The department store sub-sector scored 70.9 points (a 2.4 per cent dip year on year), while the fashion apparel one logged 72.1 points (a decline of 1.7 per cent).

Takashimaya headed the department store sub-sector with 76.3 points. Uniqlo, which topped the fashion apparel sub-sector, had 75.9 points.

The supermarket sub-sector's 71.4 points marked a decline of 0.8 per cent, while the e-commerce sub-sector had 70.8 points (down by 0.5 per cent).

Sheng Siong, which topped the supermarket sub-sector, scored 75 per cent, while Zalora, which headed the e-commerce sub-sector, had 75.1 points.

Customers of department stores and fashion apparel outlets had lower levels of loyalty - defined as the likelihood of repurchasing from the store or brand, and tolerance to price changes - with scores falling by 4 per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively.

The study saw cashless payment usage surge from 44.8 per cent in 2018 to 82.9 per cent this year.

In the infocomm sector, the mobile telecommunications sub-sector logged 70 points (a 1.2 per cent rise), while the broadband sub-sector's 68.3 points represented a 2.2 per cent increase.

StarHub topped the mobile telecoms sub-sector with 70.8 points (a 0.8 per cent increase) and pay TV sub-sector with 70.7 points. Singtel headed the broadband sub-sector with 68.8 points (a 3.5 per cent increase), while new inclusion Disney+ topped the video streaming services sub-sector with 76.3 points.