By Andrew Starke
The December 2009 results from the latest Roy Morgan Liquor Retailing Report shows 1st Choice narrowly ahead of Dan Murphy’s in customer satisfaction for the first time since January 2009.
In the 12 months to December 2009, the Roy Morgan Alcohol MAP shows 1st Choice has a customer satisfaction of 91.6 percent (up 1.7 percent from the 12 months to September 2009) to be just ahead of Dan Murphy’s at 91.2 percent (down 0.1 percent).
Both retailers have a customer satisfaction score well above their rivals, although BWS at 81.6 percent gained 1.3 percent and Woolworths Liquor at 78.2 percent gained 1.2 percent.
Liquorland was the only other store to decline, down 1.8 percent to 79.7 percent.
Roy Morgan Research account director alcohol, Trish Kelliher, said both 1st Choice and Dan Murphy’s had consistently recorded a customer satisfaction score above 90 percent, which very few retailers achieve.
They are also the only liquor retailers to substantially increase their customer numbers over the last 12 months.
“Consumers surveyed as part of the Roy Morgan Alcohol MAP tell us they want good value, range and accessibility when buying alcohol, which 1st Choice and Dan Murphy’s are both offering in their big store format; and combined with excellent customer satisfaction scores and a much higher spend per visit it’s not surprising to see they are also increasing their market share at the expense of the licensed supermarkets and the hotel bottle shops,” she said.
“Another impact of the big store format is that we are seeing a decline in the frequency of buying alcohol but an increase in the spend per visit – bigger spend but less often; somewhat the opposite to what we are seeing in the supermarket industry where people are shopping more often with smaller basket sizes.”
For detailed Roy Morgan target profiles of each of the liquor retailers, visit the online store by clicking here.