Myer turns the tables on David Jones to lead in customer satisfaction: Roy Morgan

Myer has jumped ahead of department store rival David Jones in the customer satisfaction stakes, according to the latest figures from Roy Morgan Research.

According to Roy Morgan, Myer customer satisfaction has grown over the past year, while David Jones has concurrently seen satisfaction decline. Myer had a customer satisfaction rating of 88.6% in August, ahead of David Jones’ 85.1%.

Roy Morgan’s Department Stores Satisfaction Report is based on more than 2000 interviews per annum with people who had shopped at either retailer in the last four weeks.

It shows that Myer improved its customer satisfaction rating by 2.4% points over the previous 12 months, while David Jones has suffered a year-on-year decline of 1.5% points.

With David Jones last year marginally ahead of Myer, Roy Morgan notes that “the last 12 months has seen a considerable reversal of this position”.

Myer achieved a higher score than David Jones across all generational groupings, except for the “Pre-Boomers”, or shoppers aged 71 and older. This group, which accounts for 9.9% of department store shoppers, gave David Jones a satisfaction rating of 89.7%, while Myer scored 87.6%.

Among Generation X shoppers (aged 42 to 56), who account for 26.5% of shoppers, Myer had its highest satisfaction rating (91%), with David Jones scoring 86.5%. Among millennials (aged 27 to 41), who account for 23.3% of shoppers, Myer rated 88.6%, compared to David Jones’ 83.7%.

Myer was marginally ahead of David Jones among Baby Boomers (aged 57 to 71), rating 87.5% compared to 86.9%, and clearly ahead among Generation Z shoppers (aged 12 to 26), rating 87% to 80.3%.

Norman Morris, Roy Morgan industry communications director, said the department stores are facing increasing competition from specialist retailers and online operators such as Amazon, and this will likely shift these satisfaction rankings once again.

“Although we have seen some considerable overall gains in satisfaction over the last year, this is likely to need to move at an even faster pace as the industry faces very rapid change even in the short term,” Morris commented.

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