New entry for 2010
The market downturn put all the power back in the hands of the consumer, and the service they receive can make or break a deal - however the retailer is also a customer and their suppliers are facing the same dilemma...
Customer service is usually at the top of any independent retailer's 'things we do better than multiples' list and anyone who has been in one recently will know that is, on the whole, still undoubtedly the case.
However, the needs and demands of the customer have been changed, probably irrevocably, by the sudden fall in the market since we last drew up this top 10.
Customer service has always been important of course, but that service was hardly questioned until now. Since 2008, all the power is back with the consumer as they are more aware than ever of how important each and every sale is to the retailer. With fewer potential customers coming through showroom doors, the need to raise that conversion rate is imperative, not just to make healthy profits, but also simply to stay in business.
So many retailers rely almost entirely on recommendations for new jobs and this can put them in a pretty precarious position if increasingly demanding consumers walk away feeling they haven't been treated like royalty.
Nobody running a retail operation needs to be told this, but when it comes to their suppliers, the shoe flips to the other foot - they become the customer and they want that service too for all the same reasons.
The sudden downturn in business hit many suppliers and retailers hard with an almost literal credit crunch. Credit insurers, and problems with their own cash flow, forced suppliers to slash the account limits of huge numbers of retailers - often by significant amounts.
This led to many retailers needing to expand the number of suppliers they deal with simply to maintain a certain level of supply - and therefore opening accounts and dealing with people they had little or no experience of before.
Is this one of the reasons why so many suppliers, and in particular distributors, are now treating customer service as more of a priority than ever? One supplier after another has said it is the most important part of their 2010 strategy with some investing millions in impressive call centres and online order tracking systems.
At the Bathroom Manufacturers Association conference in October last year, a quick straw poll of delegates confirmed the same thing.
As retailers are exposed to new suppliers, they are reassessing the service from existing ones. Few retailers can afford to hold any stock themselves these days, particularly smaller high-street independents, and so just-in-time delivery has become the principal method of operation.
This, combined with the dwindling patience levels of increasingly aware consumers, means everything needs to be where it needs to be, on time, every time, or else.
In an industry that, appliances aside, is devoid of household brands, consumer service is surely the key driver of purchasing decisions and consumers aren't interested in retailers telling them that their supplier has let them down.So it's not unreasonable to ask why this kind of investment has not been a priority before? Perhaps it's that tough times call for some difficult soul-searching and many suppliers haven't liked what they've found.
In the long term, it can only be good for the consumer, retailer and supplier if service levels increase across the industry. To find it in this list at all is an indictment of something that shouldn't be an issue in 2010.
