Eight in Ten Customers Satisfied with Their Auto Store: Survey

Repco and Supercheap leading for customer satisfaction

An annual survey of the auto stores customer satisfaction rating has found that levels are above 80 per cent across the industry.

The Roy Morgan Retail Satisfaction Report for the 12 months to September 2009 recorded an average of 81.0 per cent for the customer service and satisfaction level for the Auto Stores category, which is higher than the figure recorded the year before which return a figure of 80.7 per cent.

The two major competitors Repco and Supercheap Auto recorded similar scores with the brand Repco recording slightly ahead at 81.3 per cent, with Supercheap Auto marginally behind with 80.6 per cent.

Head of New Zealand Operations, Mark Dansey stated that the high level of competition in the auto-retailers and mechanics sector has been an overall win for customers as they benefits from good service and deals.

“In the five years of surveying Auto Retailers customer satisfaction has improved, but it has been a very competitive area.

“In early 2006 Supercheap clearly outstripped Repco in customer satisfaction, but customer satisfaction for Repco increased strongly in the second half of 2006 to 81.6 per cent to end the year slightly higher than Supercheap (80.7 per cent) During 2007 customer satisfaction for both continued to improve and the two auto retailers took turns at leading the customer satisfaction stakes.

“More recent trends reveal that satisfaction levels for Auto Stores increased between March 2008 and mid 2009. In this time Repco led the way over Supercheap Auto, particularly in early 2009 and dropped sharply in June 2009.

“During 2009 customer satisfaction levels for Auto Stores experienced a sharp decline. Prior to this Repco led the way with higher satisfaction levels. Both competitors are now level and have experienced a recent lift. It will be interesting to see if the upward trend continues through 2010 and which company will lead the way.”

 The Roy Morgan Retail Satisfaction monitor has been measuring the industry over the last five years and is an extensive survey of approximately 12,000 respondents aged 14 and over.