As the retail industry picks up the pace of recovery and benefits from a boom in consumer spending, it has become apparent that simply offering low prices is no longer enough to guarantee bumper profits. Instead, consumers are placing greater stock on levels of customer service and trustworthiness of the brand, meaning that a little personal touch in a business can go a long way. This was certainly the case for John Lewis, which was voted the ‘most human’ retailer in the Human Era Index report, during the Christmas trading period.
Whereas department store rival Debenhams struggled to attract custom, and was forced to issue a profits warning as a result, John Lewis managed to rack up an impressive score card in terms of like for like sales, with each passing week in the lead up to the big day seeing it break all-new records for sales.
John Lewis scored 8.8 out of a possible 10 in the Human Era Index report, which compiles the experiences of thousands of consumers from more than a thousand brands to determine which retailers are deemed trustworthy and honest by their customers. As the average brand score totalled only 4.2, John Lewis certainly appears to be held in high regard by UK consumers.
The department store brand was praised for the dedication staff showed towards providing non-pushy, friendly and helpful advice to customers seeking further information about products on sale. Managing director Andy Street emphasised that all staff are very much committed to maintaining the highest levels of customer service.
He said; “It is about fair pricing, it is about good service when you ring up the helpline, straightforwardness and honesty.”
John Lewis’ grocery arm and sister company Waitrose also scored very highly with customers, who praised similar qualities to those demonstrated by the department store brand. In fact, Waitrose came at the top of the grocery table, beating rival brands such as Tesco and Asda as well as low-cost competitors Aldi and Lidl.
Amazon came second to John Lewis in the retail stakes for a second year, with a score of 5.5 unable to beat off the 8.8 winning total. Yet millions of customers use Amazon all over the world, begging the question why one of the undisputed online retail giants was unable to top the score of a high street brand given the rising relevance of online shopping in the retail industry.
Perhaps the simple fact that online shopping largely removes the human element of the retail experience is at the root of Amazon’s customer review. Although online retailers provide services such as free delivery, plentiful reviews and quality guarantees as standard, they are unable to connect with customers in a face to face manner – a quality it seems consumers value, going by the comments contained within the report.
If this proves to be true, small retailers may be able to capitalise on this as a means of rejuvenating the nation’s high streets.
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