Coffee Shops Come Out At Top on the Consumer Friendliness Index

After six sectors were analysed for consumer experience in Dubai, coffee shops rated highest among all. Hypermarkets took second place whereas apparel, electronics, furniture and car agency sectors followed them.

Gathering feedback from 3400 customers during April to December 2013, the overall evaluation of services took into account service quality, sharing of warranty information by the salesperson, billing transparency and overall customer satisfaction. Nevertheless, it was for their complaint management systems that coffee shops stole the first spot, scoring a whopping 70.07 out of 100.

Department of Economic Development (DED) came up with the survey in order to accentuate the importance of consumer rights protection, also specified in the Federal Law No 24 of 2006. Omar Bushahab, CEO of the commercial compliance and consumer protection sector, said, “We wanted the rating to primarily focus on consumer experience.” He also said that the Consumer Friendliness Index would help uncover the sectors that need improvement.

Bushahab also mentioned the importance of customer service in retail sector. “The retail sector being a major driver of economic development in Dubai, this sector should reflect a high level of service quality and transparency that Dubai promotes as the hallmarks of its competitiveness,” he said.

The details for the top scoring sectors are as follows:

• Hypermarkets had an average aggregate score of 68.50 out of 100 with poor score in complaint resolution. Although some hypermarkets scored high in complaint resolution yet some lagged behind with really low points.
• Apparels and Furniture scored 67.76 and 64.69 out of 100, respectively. Both sectors were seen to be fully compliant to complaint resolution.
• Electronics was close behind the other sectors in all three ratings with an average aggregate of 65.96, whereas 71.38 was the highest and 62.30 was the lowest score.