Member Article

Polish online shoppers most satisfied in Europe

After taking a look at 2 million reviews from over 12,000 shops online, Trusted Shops found some interesting results from Spain, France, Germany, Poland and the UK.

With an average rating of 4.8 out of 5, Polish reviews had the highest score of the five countries, while French reviews (at just 4.3) had the lowest satisfaction rating. Britain was equal with Spain at 4.5.

The research broke the findings down further into three sub-categories: service, quality of goods and delivery. While British shoppers were relatively satisfied with the overall service, they were generally disappointed with the goods and delivery aspects of their experience.

Are the shops just better in Poland or are customers more discerning in France? It’s hard to say but these findings do starkly highlight just how much difference there is between European customer bases.

Realistically there are any numbers of potential demographic or cultural reasons for these differences. However what retailers can learn from this is they must prepare clearly differentiated strategies when they expand into new markets.

Ratings on the quality of goods stayed high in Germany and in Poland (both averaged 4.7 out of 5). However in France and Britain customers were comparatively disappointed with the quality of goods with scores of 3.8 and 3.9 respectively.

That trend was also true when it came to delivery ratings, with UK and French customers rating it as even worse than the goods.

The UK is a mature online retailing market, perhaps the most advanced in the world. Customers here are experienced and discerning, maybe even a little harsh. It’s clear that the great British public will accept nothing but the very best.

However, the news isn’t all bad. For retailers in countries with a low-medium review average (such as France or the UK) stores will stand out to consumers if they achieve a higher review rating for their shop.

Unfortunately bad reviews happen, often to good stores. If your store receives a negative review, make sure to respond publicly in a professional way using your review system. This dramatically reduces the impact of the bad review when another customer reads it, as it shows you are pro-active if problems do arise.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Phillip Smith .