JD Sports has come bottom of the latest Which? retailers’ survey. The high street chain scored just six per cent for service, with one customer saying, “The shops are a jumbled-up mess”. Another complained “Staff seem more interested in carrying on their own conversations than looking after a customer.”
Despite high prices, customers voted Waitrose their favourite shop, knocking sister company John Lewis into second place. The supermarket received a 75 per cent ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ rating from respondents. Bucking the trend, discount stores Aldi and Lidl made it into the top 10, showing that if the price is right customers are sometimes willing to accept the ‘no-frills’ approach.
Other big names such as JJB Sports, Woolworths and Sommerfield, which scored poorly in last year’s survey, still linger at the bottom of the Which? table, as do the shops in the DSG International Group Currys digital, Currys and PC World.
“It’s not rocket science – customers like retailers that treat them well,” says Peter Vicary-Smith, chief executive of Which? “The best stores realise that the most important thing they can provide is helpful, well-informed staff.
“On the other hand, nothing alienates customers more than unfriendly, ignorant shop assistants or, even worse, not being able to find a member of staff when you need one. Unfortunately, several retailers at the bottom of our table haven’t learned their lesson from last year’s survey.”
