Winning Appliances has taken out the top spot as the best store for overall satisfaction in a CHOICE survey on the best and worst electronic retailers, while Appliances Online took out the best online store for overall satisfaction, for the second time.
CHOICE asked over 5,000 supporters about their experiences buying appliances in the past 12 months. For physical stores, participants were asked to rate product range, value for money, customer service, delivery and after-sales service. Questions for online were similar, with ease of use, payment options and returns processes added.
Winnings Appliances were praised for after sales service, product and brand ranges, delivery and customer services with Retravision, Betta and Bing Lee scoring almost as well as Winnings.
Worst store for overall satisfaction was Kmart with low scores for product range and customer service.
Best store for value for money was Retravision, followed by Winning Appliances, Betta, IKEA, Bing Lee, Costco, Kmart and The Good Guys. Worst store for value for money was David Jones, then Myer, Mitre 10, Harvey Norman, Officeworks and Bunnings.
Interestingly people often make a conscious decision to buy products at higher prices from some stores based on historical service, such as David Jones and Myer, even though their customer service scores are average. Some survey respondents commented that they usually only shop there during sales time to get better prices.
When it comes to the best and worst online stores, Appliances Online topped every category in the survey, while Dick Smith and Kogan were the worst. The halo effect marketers like to talk about from brand loyalty still means people are going to Dick Smith but getting disappointing results.
As for delivery, again Appliances Online received the most favourable responses for its delivery drivers, as well as being able to select a delivery window online. The worst online shops for delivery were The Good Guys, Harvey Norman, Bunnings, eBay, Catch, Kogan and Kmart. While Kmart, Kogan, Bunnings, eBay and Catch deliveries were slow, survey respondents usually pointed to Australia Post as the culprit in these cases.