UK Shoppers Voice their Criticism

According to new studies from Publicis, shoppers in the UK are becoming more demanding and critical.

The survey found that almost two thirds (65%) of shoppers are more likely to complain than three years ago, and nearly one-third of shoppers haggle on the high street.

Lucy Purdy, head of strategic planning at Publicis comments, 'When people pay money for a brand or company, they feel they are buying rights to how they are treated. It's not just what they buy that's important, it's how they are treated when they buy and afterwards that matters.'

It is also the case that a company's ethical profile is increasingly important to British consumers. Roughly 40% of shoppers found something about a company that put them off buying a product, a rise of 9% on that found in 2001.

'There is something going wrong in the way the marketing community is relating to customers,' added Purdy. 'Companies are spending a fortune on call centres and CRM programmes, but we've shown that trust in companies is falling and complaints are rising.'

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.