The good news is that despite the operating challenges retailers have been facing (e.g., manpower), there was no significant change to the scores from last year for most sub-sectors with the exception of the Retail sub-sectors of Petrol Stations and Motor Vehicles, which both saw significant improvements to their satisfaction scores.
The latest numbers based on a survey of 7,790 resident and 1,210 tourist respondents conducted between January and March 2015 showed that the Retail sector rose by 0.4 points (+0.5%) year-on-year to 70.0 points (on a 0 to 100 scale). The Info-communications sector also registered a higher score, rising 0.6 points (+0.9%) year-on-year to 67.4 points out of a possible 100.
The importance of getting the customer experience right
Speaking at the panel discussion chaired by ISES Academic Director Marcus Lee, Chris Williams, Chief Operations Officer of ViewQwest, provided insights into the customer experience in the info-comms industry, listing effectiveness, ease and emotion as the three main drivers. “If you can give enough good experiences to your customers, then the bad times are made more bearable,” citing an example of handling a series of customer complaints on Facebook.
In summary, he noted that it was important to ensure the right systems in place to support staff, which would lead to staff supporting customers and in turn, lead to customers feeling valued.
Motivating young graduates to work in the retail sector
Geoffrey da Silva, lecturer of marketing at SMU and Associate Director of Talent Development at the LVMH-SMU Luxury Brand Initiative, gave insights into the retailing industry, and the expectations of young graduates hoping to convert their retail interest into a career.
“Students need to understand retail concepts and best practices across sectors, locally and globally. The qualities of a good retailer include one who practices servant leadership – the ability to roll up one’s sleeves and lead by example, someone who is operations-savvy, and someone who keeps up with best practice,” he noted.
Graduates despite having a positive perception of the industry, noted the lack of opportunities for career growth, the low starting salaries and the lack of job stability in today’s disruptive climate.
In essence, Mr da Silva expressed the importance of having more retail heroes for students and graduates alike to look up to. More recognition needs to be given to these frontline professionals, in order to inspire and maintain the passion of the younger generation.
Customers’ perceptions of quality and satisfaction
This quarter’s analysis showed that customer perception of value does not drive satisfaction as much as it used to two years ago. While price promotions can help drive customers into stores, it has become increasingly insufficient in driving satisfaction.
Delving deeper into the research showed that local and tourist customers responded differently to various service touchpoints in regards to perceptions of quality and satisfaction.
For example, in Departmental Stores, while “courteous staff” was the most impactful attribute of perceived quality for both local and tourist customers, “store layout” was considerably more important to tourist customers than it was for the locals.
Added Dr Lee, "What are driving satisfaction levels more now are customer expectations - the pre-conceived notions of a company's performance - and customers' perceived overall quality - the measure of how well the product or service meets their personal requirements."
A need to review customer complaint handling
The survey also revealed that customers are dissatisfied with telco service providers even when their complaints are well-handled if the products and services they receive fail to meet their expectations. In 2014, info-communications customers with well-handled complaints were only 3.2% less satisfied than those with no reason to complain. However, in 2015, customers with well-handled complaints had a satisfaction score 22.5% lower than those who had no reason to complain.
Said Dr Lee: "The larger discrepancy could point towards fundamental issues customers may be having with the telco's core product - issues that customer service may not be able to resolve, nor should it be expected to. Companies should use the opportunity to review its value proposition."
He added that in the longer term, companies should use branding and communications to position the customer experience such that customers better know what to expect. "In essence, businesses are ensuring they are attracting the group of customers that will appreciate their service proposition," said Dr Lee.
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