Study names UK’s best and worst cities for retail customer service
Study names UK’s best and worst cities for retail customer service
Posted on 11 Oct 2022
A new study, by careers experts, StandOut CV, claims to have identified the best and worst cities in the UK for customer service by highlighting the frequency of positive and negative comments left by customers in each city. The study analysed 784,444 customer reviews from Google Maps.
The analysis reviewed a variety of industries which included B&Bs, barbers, bars, cafés, gyms, hairdressers, restaurants, shops and supermarkets to reveal how many times positive and negative phrases were used.
Looking at retail businesses, the data revealed the best-reviewed city for retail customer service to be Wells in Somerset, with 9.3% of reviews posting positive comments about their customer service. York was rated the second best, with 8.4% of the city’s reviews containing positive customer feedback.
Top 10 cities for positive customer feedback in retail:
1. Wells (9.3%)
2. York (8.4%)
3. Truro (8.2%)
4. Ripon (8.2%)
5. Ely (7.3%)
6. Chichester (7.2%)
7. Winchester (6.9%)
8. Salisbury (6.7%)
9. Manchester (6.5%)
10. Chester (6.5%)
Cities that performed less well in their retail customer service were led by Leicester, with 3.25% of its retail business reviews containing various negative customer comments.
Top 10 cities for negative customer feedback in retail:
1. Leicester (3.25%)
2. Westminster (2.91%)
3. Southampton (2.90%)
4. Bradford (2.86%)
5. Birmingham (2.85%)
6. Manchester (2.53%)
7. Oxford (2.53%)
8. Bristol (2.34%)
9. Nottingham (2.30%)
10. Cambridge (2.27%)
Cities providing the best customer service in the UK
When looking at the overall data, which considers retail businesses as well as many others, the study found Wells in Somerset had the highest percentage of positive customer comments, relative to the city’s overall total, with 26.9% of reviews mentioning any of the positive customer service phrases analysed in the study. Ripon in North Yorkshire came next (20.7%), followed by Chichester (19.9%).
The city of Westminster had the highest overall proportion of customer service reviews where 2.42% of business reviews contained negative comments from customers, followed by London (2.41%), and Birmingham (2.3%).