Customer satisfaction levels up for retail, telco sectors

SINGAPORE – Customers who shopped only at physical department stores were less satisfied than e-commerce customers, an annual customer satisfaction survey has found.

However, the survey also revealed that customers of physical stores who also shopped at their online stores would be equally satisfied and had higher levels of loyalty.

Such results showed that retail stores would do well to build an online presence, said Mr Chen Yongchang, head of research and consulting at the Institute of Service Excellence at the Singapore Management University, which carried out the survey. 

"Offering retail customers more ways to shop, whether through online channels or self-checkout counters, could enhance the customer experience, thereby positively impacting customer satisfaction and loyalty," he said.

The results of customer satisfaction levels for the retail and telecommunications sectors in the first quarter of this year were unveiled on Wednesday (June 28). The national survey is conducted quarterly for various sectors.

A total of 6,070 Singapore residents as well as 830 tourists were surveyed via face to face interviews between January to April this year.

It showed that satisfaction with brick-and-mortar department stores markedly improved over the previous year. But the retail sector as a whole saw only a marginal increase in customer satisfaction, scoring 72.1 points as compared to 71.7 last year.

All segments saw a rise in satisfaction, with department stores performing the best, followed by supermarkets, fashion stores, and e-commerce.

The telecommunications sector did better, with consumer satisfaction significantly improving as compared to the past year. 

It scored 69.6 points, a year-on-year increase of 1.10 points. 

Under the sector, all services saw a marginal uptick in terms of customer satisfaction. Broadband services improved the most, followed by mobile services, then pay television, and last in place, the nationwide free wifi service Wireless@SG.

Correction: In an earlier version of this story, we said under the telco sector, all services saw a rise in customer satisfaction, and broadband services did the best. This is incorrect. Broadband improved the most. We are sorry for the error.