Using customer satisfaction with the most recent store experience and their likelihood to recommend that retailer to others as the benchmark, Ikea and Ace Hardware were named the favorites among consumers participating in a Market Force Information survey.

“Service is of the utmost importance in any retail situation, but particularly in the larger-format stores that are commonplace in home furnishings and home improvement,” said Brad Christian, chief customer office for Market Force. “The customer experience largely relies on being able to find what you need and someone to help. Otherwise, customers can quickly become frustrated and that can lead retailers to a missed sale.”

Ikea scored 75 percent on the composite loyalty index (CLI) among home furnishings retailers, topping second-place HomeGoods, which earned 63 percent.

Ikea’s score was 5 percentage points ahead of its 2016 mark in a comparable Market Force survey, matching Bed Bath & Beyond, which also gained 5 percentage points, jumping to a 61 percent CLI and tying it with Target, which dropped 7 percentage points to 61 percent. HomeGoods stayed about the same, gaining one percentage from last year’s 62 percent, and Walmart dropped one percentage point to 43 percent for 2018.

The study found that retailers that scored well in six areas—value for money paid, store cleanliness, ease of finding merchandise, merchandise variety, merchandise availability and store layout and design—achieved high overall satisfaction among shoppers.

Ikea took the top spot in six of nine criteria—parking availability, cleanliness, value, variety, merchandise availability and eco-friendly products. Target was the No. 1 scorer for ease of finding merchandise and store layout and design, while Bed Bath & Beyond led the pack in speed of checkout category.

However, speed of checkout and availability of green products scored lowest among all customers among the nine criteria, presenting home furnishings retailers with an opportunity for differentiation if they can master those areas.

When asked about the in-store experience, respondents ranked Ikea associates tops in all categories—courtesy and friendliness, overall service, understanding needs, product knowledge, ease of finding an associate, suggestions and recommendations and closing the sale—and Bed Bath & Beyond employees earned second-place honors across the board.

In the home improvement category, Ace Hardware earned a 68 percent CLI score, putting it ahead of Menards (57 percent), Lowe’s (54 percent), Home Depot (53 percent) and Walmart (36 percent). Ace saw its score rise 5 percentage points versus 2017, while Menard’s, Lowe’s and Walmart all lost ground. Home Depot experienced a 2 percentage point gain.

To achieve its score, Ace took the top spot in eight of nine categories, with Menards taking first in merchandise variety. Walmart was last in all categories except value, where it was third among the five. Ace associates also were leaders in the seven categories measuring in-store experience, while Walmart was last in all of them.

The survey was conducted online in June, with a pool of 1,841 consumers for the home furnishings portion and 4,040 consumers for the home improvement section. The respondents came from a cross-section of the United States and represented a broad spectrum of income levels and ages from 18 to older than 65.

（Source: hfndigital.com）