Study: Holiday service leaves shoppers not so happy

Despite significant investments by many retailers, U.S. consumers are unsatisfied with the levels of customer service offered this holiday season.



According to the new 2015 Retail Holiday Customer Experience study from customer engagement solutions provider Eptica, 35% of consumers are unhappy with the online experience. This figure rises to 40% in store.



Eighteen percent of consumers said it was impossible or extremely difficult to find the information they wanted on retailers’ websites. And while the majority of consumers bought online (63%) or in store (56%), they are increasingly using their smartphones in store to make purchases.



Twenty-three percent of consumers using smartphones to purchase instore bought from the website of the retailer they were in, but one fifth (20%) purchased from a rival. Nearly half of those that bought in store via smartphones complained about the service – 49% in the case of those purchasing from the retailer they were in, and 48% if buying from another company.



Other key findings from the research were:



• 37% are extremely satisfied with the online experience, with 35% unsatisfied.

• 40% are unhappy with the experience in store, with 30% extremely satisfied.

• 49% are dissatisfied with the experience when buying from a retailer on their smartphone when in one of their stores.



Consumer dissatisfaction backs up the recently released 2015 Eptica Retail Multichannel Customer Experience Study. This evaluated 500 U.S. retailers on their ability to provide answers to routine questions via email, the web, chat, Facebook and Twitter and found serious failings in the customer experience.

For example, retailers could only answer 20% of questions sent via Twitter and 54% of Facebook messages -- in contrast, they replied successfully to nearly three quarters (73%) of emails received. Only around two-thirds (65%) of answers to routine questions could be found on company websites.



The 2015 Eptica Retail Holiday Customer Experience Study is based on consumer research conducted by Toluna with 1,000 American shoppers on Nov. 30, 2015.