Myer has improved its customer satisfaction rating over the last 12 months by 2.4 per cent, while major rival David Jones declined 1.5 per cent, according to new research from Roy Morgan.

The market research firm’s latest report, based on over 2,000 interviews per annum with people who have shopped at either Myer or David Jones in the last four weeks, showed that customer satisfaction with Myer in August 2017 was 88.6 per cent placing it ahead of its major competitor David Jones at 85.1 per cent.

A year ago, David Jones with a satisfaction rating of 86.6 per cent was marginally ahead of Myer (86.2 per cent) but the last 12 months has seen a considerable reversal of this position with Myer now at 88.6 per cent and David Jones on 85.1 per cent.

David Jones has its highest customer satisfaction rating among ‘Pre-Boomers’ (those aged 71 +) with 89.7 per cent, where it is higher than Myer (87.6 per cent). This generation accounts for 9.9 per cent of department store shoppers.

Myer has its highest satisfaction rating (91.0 per cent) with ‘Generation X’ (aged 42 to 56), ahead of David Jones at 86.5 per cent. According to Roy Morgan, this is the most important group of department store shoppers in terms of customer numbers, accounting for 26.5 per cent of the total.

Myer performed better than David Jones among ‘Millennials’ (aged 27 to 41) with 88.6 per cent compared to 83.7 per cent, with this generation accounting for 23.3 per cent of department store shoppers.

According to Norman Morris, industry communications director, Roy Morgan Research, with department stores facing increasing competition from specialist retailers and new online players such as Amazon, it is important to keep track on how customers are rating their current retailers.

“Because department stores are generally aiming at serving a wide range of consumers, it is important to understand how well they are performing in terms of satisfaction across priority segments rather than a single overall figure,” Morris said.

“Although we have seen some considerable overall gains in satisfaction over the last year, this is likely to need to move at an even faster pace as the industry faces very rapid change even in the short term.”