The attempts of Marks & Spencer to position itself as the premiere British retailer of specialty clothing, home products and luxury goods have not been in vain. Because of the excellent customer experience it offers and its commitment to personalized customer engagement, the London-based multinational retailer has been recognized as the brand with the most customer loyalty in the UK.
This was the result of a recent UK Customer Loyalty Index according to apparel fit preference specialist Fits.me, a specialized research and support agency.
After surveying over 2,000 UK consumers, who were asked to identify the top three clothing brands that wielded most of their customer loyalty, Marks & Spencer toped the list.
The report titled, “Knowing them, knowing you - shopper perspectives on engagement, loyalty and personalization in apparel retail,” revealed the top 35 clothing industry retailers. Marks & Spencer received 12% of all brand loyalty. Next, which held 9.6% of the vote, came in second. And then Primark was third with 5.9%.
“While it's clearly very difficult for apparel brands to secure the expressed loyalty of even just one in forty people, loyalty itself is very clearly not dead,” said Stuart Simms, Fits.me CEO. “With all retailers trying to achieve this on a daily basis, this response suggests retailers still have improvements to make.”
This may be encouraging news after many in the clothing industry have seemly been faced with a recent crisis of brand loyalty. Last year, a full 50% of fashion companies stated that winning customer loyalty was their primary challenge.
The new research by Fits.me, however, showed that 71% of UK consumers do consider themselves loyal to a small number of clothing brands.
“The challenge for every retailer is identifying how they can get to know their customers better and how they can systematically put that knowledge to work across their organization to enhance customer loyalty and engagement beyond transactions alone,” Simms continued. “As it stands, even the largest retailers and supermarkets can't assume we'll simply come back next time.”
The single main way clothing retailers can help improve customer loyalty is to, in the customers’ words, “stock clothes that fit [their] needs and preferences.”
The message is clear. To win customer loyalty, clothing retailers simply must get to know their customers better and begin building better relationships with them.