Not content with annoying the hell out of Coles and Woolies, ALDI has now topped the leaderboard when it comes to having the most satisfied customers.
According to an August poll by CustomerSatisfactionAwards.com – a study by research firm Roy Morgan – some 96 per cent of Aussies who shopped at ALDI said they were satisfied. The South Australian grocery chain Foodland was second with a 94 per cent happy customer rating. IGA was third with 92 per cent, Coles fourth with 91 per cent, and poor old Woolies bringing up the rear on 88 per cent.
However, it should be said, it’s not entirely clear what the actual criteria was used to garner the results.
Australian supermarket shoppers are notoriously fickle and typically not loyal to anyone store or retailer. According to Roy Morgan, 75 per cent of Australia’s 15 million grocery shoppers go to one or more stores every month which, if anything, shows the importance of customer satisfaction.
The survey also ranked customer satisfaction on actual in-store brand categories (ie bread, milk, fresh fruit etc). Check who won each in the graph below (and it should be noted ALDI don’t have a deli or seafood section).
Commenting on the study, Roy Morgan’s industry communications director, Norman Morris, said: “According to the old saying, ‘You can’t please everyone all of the time’—but that’s pretty much what supermarkets must do if they are to remain competitive. Witness ALDI’s market-leading performance, satisfying a mighty 96 per cent of its customers in August, and excelling in six of the nine supermarket sub-categories measured by Roy Morgan.
“As the German discount giant continues its Australian expansion, its influence is growing. Since it moved into South Australia at the beginning of 2016, the proportion of South Australian residents who mainly or sometimes shop there has shot up to 19 per cent. In Western Australia, where it opened in June, a similar trend appears to be taking shape. It will be interesting to see whether this increased customer volume takes ALDI’s satisfaction to even greater heights in months to come.
“Meanwhile, news that fellow German discount supermarket Lidl is almost certain to enter the Australian market in the near future heralds yet further upheaval for the national supermarket scene. In anticipation of this, Coles, Woolworths and the independents would be wise to really consolidate on their customer satisfaction in the hope of boosting loyalty.
“Supermarkets wishing to future-proof their business in this increasingly competitive climate need a firm strategy that goes beyond ‘the customer is always right’ to what might be called ‘customer obsession’. To devise this, they must understand which demographic and psychographic factors shape their shoppers’ satisfaction, how this compares to their competitors, and what broader retail trends are at play.
“With their compelling low-price, no-frills approach, these German contenders may be formidable rivals, but that doesn’t mean all is lost for local supermarkets,” Morris said.
