While much has been made in the media of late of the recent Which? report’s findings that show WH Smith in bottom position retailer in its recent ‘Best and worst high street shops’ survey, the coverage has not highlighted how well specialist card retailers fared in the this research.
Card Factory ranked equal 13th in the list (along with The Body Shop, Lush and Dunelm), with a high 75% satisfaction score from respondent shoppers.
With far fewer stores, Paperchase came in joint 20th position with a 68% customer satisfaction score while Clintons, the third other card specialist to feature in the league table, ranked 27th with a 61% customer satisfaction score.
WH Smith came bottom of the table, in 43rd position, only scoring 50% on the customer satisfaction front.
Meanwhile, at the top of the leader board, John Lewis came in third place, scoring 86% on customer satisfaction, a few percentage points behind audio specialist Richer Sounds which came top and outdoor clothing specialist Rohan, which came in second place.
Waterstones, a sizeable non-specialist card retailer came high in the ranking, in joint 6th position with an 82% customer satisfaction score.
The report is based on a survey carried out in January 2019, involving 7,784 Which? members who are asked their opinions on the non-grocer purchases they have made in the last 12 months. Which? required at least 30 responses for the retailers to feature.
When respondents were asked what they most like about shopping instore, top of the list was being able to touch/feel a product (88%); 69% said it was being able to take the product away there and then; 53% being able to ask the in-store staff questions and 46% said supporting the local high street.
