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CBC News, 25 / 01 / 2005
Bad experiences for shoppers are bad news for retailers: survey TORONTO - When shoppers don't like a store, they tell five family members and friends, a Toronto consulting company says.
And that's a big problem for retailers because more than half of Canadians will not even enter a store if they've heard something bad about it, a new survey shows.
"Negative word of mouth has become one of the biggest business-killers in Canada," the Verde Group said on Tuesday, based on a survey of more than 1,000 shoppers done in December.
Verde said it helps companies such as Rogers Communications, the Royal Bank and Toyota identify sources of consumer dissatisfaction and fix them.
The best way to alienate customers is to employ sales staff (customer service reps, or CSRs) who don't respect customers or don't know the product or service, Verde president Paula Courtney said in a release.
While that is low on the list of customer gripes, it generates the greatest volume of negative gossip.
"That means a business can have limited parking, slim pickings on the shelves and an unattractive store front, but if their CSRs don't know the products and services, each disgruntled customer will tell five others and so on and so on," Courtney said.
The survey shows:
- Sales people in Ontario were among the worst, being unhelpful, disrespectful, "did not appreciate their business and did not properly explain charges and other details of the purchase."
- About 40 per cent of Canadians reported problems while shopping.
- Having to wait to be served or to pay was the biggest problem.
- Shoppers who have problems don't complain, they walk away.
"This should be a wake-up call for Canadian businesses," Courtney said.
The study, done by Verde with survey company Consumer Contact, represents 1,014 responses from shoppers in the four weeks before Christmas. Results are accurate to within plus or minus 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
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