Aldi has topped Roy Morgan’s supermarket satisfaction poll for the month of August, achieving a satisfaction score of 96 per cent.
Since the beginning of the year, the German-owned discount supermarket has been leading the field for customer satisfaction, according to Roy Morgan, with its latest result just ahead of 2015’s Supermarket of the Year, Foodland, on 94 per cent.
Fellow independent IGA ranked third (92 per cent), while the top five was rounded out by Coles (91 per cent) and Woolworths/Safeway (88 per cent).
Supermarket satisfaction sub-categories
Aldi also dominated in the supermarket sub-categories, also measured by Roy Morgan, topping six of the nine categories including dairy, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, meat, packaged groceries and general merchandise.
Of the remaining three, Foodland satisfied the highest proportion of customers for bread, Woolworths/Safeway scored best for deli, and Coles topped the list for seafood.
Influence growing as Lidl rumours continue
Norman Morris, industry communications director, Roy Morgan Research, said as Aldi continues its Australian expansion its influence is growing.
“Since [Aldi] moved into South Australia at the beginning of 2016, the proportion of SA 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,” Mr Morris said.
Mr Norris said in anticipation of Lidl’s rumoured arrival, Coles, Woolworths and independents “would be wise to consolidate on their customer satisfaction in the hope of boosting loyalty”.
He added that 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.
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