With all the focus being put on retailers’ customer service in the media, do we need to up our game?

Mary Portas’ Secret Shopper programme has generated much debate about the role of shopfloor staff in the in-store customer experience.

AlixPartners director Dan Murphy is not convinced that consumers expect or demand high-end customer service in all the stores they visit.

Most consumers who appreciate the value benefits of Aldi or Primark understand perfectly well the trade-offs between lower prices and customer service levels. Everyone understands the Easyjet/Ryanair price and service model.

“There is far less stigma attached to the value players now,” he adds. “A few years ago, their customers were mainly low income families, but now it is common to spot BMWs and Mercedes in their car parks.”

His view is that it is unrealistic to expect all retailers to deliver some basic minimum standard of individual customer service, as Mary Portas seems to suggest. While many retailers do talk about putting customers at the heart of their business, in reality they are mostly interested in sales and profits. As customer service levels are very difficult to measure, the most common proxy for these are financial results. As long as Primark continues to outperform the sector despite relatively low levels of customer service, why should it change?

Household disposable income continues to fall and unemployment remains a major issue, particularly among the younger age groups with 20% of 16- to 24-year-olds out of work. “Retailers must keep this in mind when considering the relationship between higher service levels and prices at the checkout,” he says.

“I don’t see things getting better any time soon, and so inevitably consumers are going to be looking for more ways of saving money, even if this means accepting lower levels of service. Retailers just have to be realistic.”