SA’s best mobile retailer revealed
Vodacom has maintained its industry leader position for retail store satisfaction, according to the South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi).
However, South African consumers’ satisfaction with mobile network service providers is unchanged from 2013, showing no clear industry leaders.
SAcsi, an independent index that is governed by the University of Pretoria, said consumers gave the mobile networks industry a satisfaction score of 76.7 out of 100, higher than the UK (74), South Korea (73), and the USA (72).
The SAcsi surveyed 1,526 randomly selected customers of Cell C, MTN, Telkom Mobile (formerly 8ta) and Vodacom.
Customer satisfaction with mobile telecom retail stores dropped 4% from 2013, to 71.6 out of 100.
SAcsi said that the 2014 results indicate no clear industry leaders. MTN (which was last year’s industry leader), Telkom Mobile and Vodacom have all scored on par with the industry average.
Cell C however, remains below industry par by 6.4%. “There have been no significant changes in any of the company scores from last year to this year,” SAcsi said.
“The fact that there is no clear industry leader and that there has been little to no change in both industry and company satisfaction scores indicates that there is no differentiator in the market, and that the mobile network service providers will find it increasingly difficult to find sustainable competitive advantage to compete with,” said Prof. Adré Schreuder, founder and chair of SAcsi.
“Without clear differentiation and lower levels of customers loyalty, it will contribute to the ease of switching to another service provider, and the network service providers need to consider the possible implications of this,” he said.
Mobile telecoms retail stores
The SAcsi surveyed 2,288 randomly selected customers of Altech Autopage Cellular, Cell C, MTN and Vodacom for retail store satisfaction.
The sample also included customers of other retail stores (Nashua Mobile and Telkom Direct).
Although the industry satisfaction score (71.6) dropped by 3.2 index points (4%) from last year, Altech Autopage improved its score by 7% and moved from below industry par to being on par with the industry.
Vodacom maintained its industry leader position with a satisfaction score 2.1% above the industry average, although its satisfaction score dropped 6% from 2013.
Cell C is on par with the industry and recorded no significant change in its satisfaction score from last year.
Satisfaction amongst MTN’s customers is also on par with the industry, but the score has dropped 6% since 2013
Other mobile telecoms retail stores scored below the industry average by 4.7%, SAcsi said.
“The decrease in overall satisfaction among the mobile telecoms retailers can be attributed to the fact that customer expectations of the quality of service are high and have increased since last year. Telecoms retailers have been unable to meet these expectations, let alone exceed them,” said Schreuder.
He added that customers expect knowledgeable and friendly staff at outlets and want to receive feedback when raising issues at the stores. The failure of mobile telecoms stores to meet these expectations affects customer satisfaction levels.
“Vodacom exceeds customer expectations and boasts the highest customer retention and customer loyalty scores in the industry, contributing to its high overall satisfaction score,” Schreuder said.
International standards
SAcsi holds a license with the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and forms part of a growing number of ACSI-licensed partner countries worldwide, which allows South Africa to compare its industries’ customer satisfaction with this global community.
Relative to the international ACSI scores, South Africa is the international benchmark for mobile network service providers, beating Portugal (74.7), The UK (74), Turkey (74), South Korea (73), USA (72), Kuwait (71), Singapore (67) and Brazil (65).
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