JJB named ‘retail flop’

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By: Jeff James

Listed Under: Top Story

Published: Thursday, May 27, 2010

We prefer to focus on the positive at Sports Insight, but we thought the latest survey results from ‘retail champion’ Which? could be of interest, if not much surprise.

JJB Sports has been named among the worst shops in the UK, along with Currys, PC World, Focus, Currys Digital and WH Smith.

Ranked joint 95th out of 100 high street chains, one JJB shopper said that staff gave the impression they were “more interested in chatting to each other than dealing with the customer”.

The Which? survey was released on the same day the retailer posted a pre-tax loss of £68.6million in its full-year results to January 31.

Sports Direct didn’t fare much better – being ranked in joint 89th place with the likes of Homebase and Poundstretcher in the worst UK retailers list, compiled from responses from 14,151 members of the public in February and March about the high street shops they had visited in the previous six months.

Richer Sounds and homeware retailer Lakeland were voted joint top in the survey, followed by Apple, Lush, John Lewis, The Body Shop and IKEA.

Richer Sounds is streets ahead of better-known competitors when it comes to customer satisfaction, according to Which? One happy shopper enthused about its “lovely, helpful, knowledgeable staff” and “excellent aftercare” as reasons why the audio visual chain stands out.

“We know people appreciate good customer service, so retailers need to realise that ‘who cares, wins’,” says Peter Vicary-Smith, chief executive of Which?

“Some stores are clearly giving their customers what they want, so why settle for lousy service? We urge shoppers to vote with their feet and stamp it out.”