New research from Unified Customer Intelligence startup Chattermill has found that Zara comes bottom when it comes to customer experience.
Chattermill analysed feedback from 152,000 fashion shoppers’ TrustPilot reviews from customers buying at Asos, H&M, New Look, Next and Zara.
Leading the pack was fast fashion giant Asos, receiving consistently high scores over the past 12 months, while New Look is on an upward climb after a relatively low period, the research revealed.
The data indicates that there has been a significant fall in customer loyalty across the retail industry as a whole.
A decrease can be linked to a rise in customer returns (and the hassle it brings), complaints about delivery, and inconsistent product sizing and fitting.
Zara received the lowest rating given by customers. The main gripe from customers is how retailers handle returns and refunds.
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Data showed that Zara is consistent with the amount of negative feedback they are receiving while other retailers appear to be making improvements to their returns processes.
A large driver for customer dissatisfaction is related to issues registered with clothing sizes and fitting.
Zara has the worst size and fit out of the five retailers analysed. The products with the most problematic sizes are trousers, dresses and jeans. These are also the top three products most frequently returned by customers, the data showed.
“This data is a useful barometer to show how customer experience issues can directly impact customer retention rates,” Chattermill chief strategy & insights officer Dmitry Isupov said.
“A customer experience in retail is full of nuances and variables. But the voice of the customer is there, and brands need to start unifying, listening and analysing their data to ensure they can compete as the competition continues to grow.”
