Amazon Dominates in Service Quality Perception, but Isn’t Always the First Choice for Shopping

May 29, 2020

WundermanThompson Amazon as Preferred Shopping Destination May2020Amazon leads the way among online retail channels in consumers’ views of delivery speed, delivery price, product reviews and more, but it falls behind as a shopping destination in some sectors, according to a recent report [download page] from Wunderman Thompson Commerce (WTC).

Amazon’s Lead on Other Retailers Varies

Amazon continues to dominate various facets of online shopping: three-quarters of consumers surveyed said they wish more brands and retailers offered the same level of services. Compared to individual brands, social platforms, retailers and other marketplaces, Amazon is seen by consumers as the best in all but one metric, with speedy delivery being their strongest suit – some 57% said Amazon was better than all the others here.

Consumers also rated Amazon best by some margin for free delivery (49%), ease of finding desired products (48%) and having products in stock (47%).

That being said, Amazon dominates by a narrower margin in some respects, leaving room for other retailers to win over consumers. When it comes to social commerce, consumers rated Amazon only third-best (18%), with the highest share thinking that none of the listed platforms or retailers were best at this (41%) and 1 in 5 (21%) seeing social platforms as best in this area. Similarly, while consumers rated Amazon best in terms of price (50%), one-quarter (24%) thought that other marketplaces were best at this. In addition, the 36% of consumers who rate retailers (21%) and other marketplaces (15%) best in strong customer service follow closely behind the 38% who see Amazon as best in this area.

Amazon Dominates Preferences Only in Some Product Sectors

Despite Amazon’s lead across almost all areas of the online shopping experience, this doesn’t universally apply to where shoppers prefer to shop in particular categories.

Granted, in sectors where Amazon and e-commerce have largely replaced individual retailers and stores, consumers prefer Amazon. Around half (48%) of consumers prefer to buy entertainment products from Amazon, compared to the 15% who prefer to use other marketplaces and the 10% who use retailer sites. Similarly, Amazon is preferred by a plurality of consumers buying toys (37%) and technology (29%).

But in many sectors, Amazon has a way to go towards becoming the consumers’ top preference. For example, only 1 in 10 prefer to shop at the behemoth when buying groceries; despite the rise in online grocery shopping, this is a sector where the largest share respondents never buy online (40%). Meanwhile, a similarly small share prefers Amazon when shopping for luxury products (14%), clothing (17%), motors and accessories (18%), beauty (18%) and pet care (18%). Instead, consumers tend to prefer visiting brand websites for luxury products and retailer websites for both the clothing and fashion and the beauty sectors.

Despite the so-called “retail apocalypse”, in all but 4 sectors a plurality of respondents preferred to not buy online. This was particularly clear in motors and accessories (45%), pet care (43%), garden products (40%) and grocery (40%).

To learn more, find the full report here.

About the Data: Based on a Q1 2020 online survey of 14,103 consumers who shop online at least once a month in the UK, US, Australia, Germany, Spain, France and the Netherlands.

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