Zooplus dominates competition study

For its competition study “Service Atlas Online-Shops 2013”, the analysis and consultancy company Service Value GmbH of Cologne, Germany, investigated which online shops are doing best in Germany from the customers’ viewpoint. 4 732 customer assessments of 36 shops were evaluated for the study. Over 30 specific performance features and six test categories were also assessed from a customer viewpoint. First place in the atlas went to Zooplus, the online supplier of pet products, as overall winner. Zooplus also won in the categories “Design of online shop”, “Product recommendations” and “Dispatch service”. The online shops of Esprit and QVC came second and third in the overall ranking.
According to Service Value, the strongest customer loyalty driver, even for online shops, is the personal processing of requests over the telephone or via e-mail. What the customer wants is the opportunity to contact staff. Online shoppers also expect product recommendations based on genuine customer reviews, which must be convincing in terms of number and quality. Anyone wishing to retain customers in online retailing, therefore, should expand their customer service, says the company.