During a recession, with consumer confidence at a low ebb, keeping your customers satisfied and retaining them is vital for survival. Retailers need to understand how they satisfy their shoppers in order to enhance their appeal and increase customer loyalty. Moreover, an insight into what drives customer satisfaction at competitors is essential to win customers from them.

Scope

*Measures and ranks customer satisfaction for all significant retailers in the sector over six years (2005-2010).

*Includes ratings for eight performance metrics: price, range, quality, service, convenience, ambience, layout and facilities.

*Covers 22 retailers including Marks & Spencer, Next, New Look, Debenhams, Tesco, Asda, Matalan, H&M, Primark, Peacocks, JD Sports and House of Fraser.

Highlights

Last year's fourth placed retailer, Marks & Spencer has been making gradual gains in the survey over the past five years and this year jumps to first position having improved its score by 15 points. Its success is driven by its consistently high score in quality and this year it has also improved on its range score.

Over the past 12 months we have seen major changes in Next's clothing offer, integrating more fashion trends into its ranges. This has been one of the main drivers of the retailer's improved sales performance this year, and is also reflected in the results of our survey taking eighth place for range ranking, its highest performance since 2001.

While Peacocks is only ranked 12th in our survey, it has made the most gains this year. It has increased its score by 58 points improving its overall ranking from 23rd to 12th. With the exception of ambience, the retailer has made gains in all of our measures but particularly convenience, facilities and service.

Reasons to Purchase

*Identify the preferences of your shoppers and how successful you are in delivering on them to help you retain your customers.

*Understand the weaknesses of your competitors' customer proposition and exploit them to your advantage.

*Independently track how strategies and management policy are affecting or influencing customer satisfaction.