UK consumers are more disloyal than ever in their choice of retailer, a new study has found.
A survey by Verdict Consulting showed that 10.8 million shoppers - or 22 per cent - are disloyal to the stores they use, with more consumers claiming that they would prefer to use an alternative store to the one they use most.
The findings show that customer loyalty has fallen at its sharpest rate in 10 years and that the challenge facing retailers as they fight to retain shoppers is getting tougher.
The rate of disloyalty in the food and grocery retail sector is the highest of all the sectors measured, at 32.4 per cent this year, up three per cent on last year.
Neil Saunders, consulting director at Verdict, said: “In the current environment it’s critical for retailers to hang on to every customer they’ve got; no one can afford to lose business.
“Such a low rate of loyalty demonstrates the extent to which people are shopping around and are increasingly willing to punish retailers that don’t meet their expectations. It should act as a wake-up call that retailers need to become better at meeting the needs of their customers.
“As competition has intensified it has become increasingly difficult to hold onto customers and retailers now need to work harder than ever before to retain shoppers,” he adds.
The research suggests there could be greater opportunities for discounters, such as Aldi, Netto and lidl.
James Flower, senior consultant at Verdict, said: “While their customer share remains low compared to the likes of Tesco, there can be no doubt that the grocery discounters have been successful in attracting significant numbers of new customers. In the current environment, their price focus has real resonance with hard-pressed families”.
Jeremy Rance, national director of the retail and wholesale sectors at Barclays Commercial Bank, added: “The research shows that the current climate is causing consumers to shop around not just for price and value, but also for a distinctive quality of service and connectivity with the retailers. They are proving to be more discerning than ever, requiring phenomenal consistency of performance from the retailers in return for their loyalty.
“For those retailers who can uniquely combine range, convenience, layout, facilities, customer service and price into a compelling proposition, they will be rewarded and rewarded well, striking a chord of intrinsic and intangible values in the heart of the consumer.”
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