Need to know
- Over 6000 CHOICE members answered our survey on best and worst retailers in Australia
- Betta has the best bricks and mortar shop experience
- Appliances Online has the best online shop experience
On this page:
If you're going to buy an appliance or electronic goods, you're likely to head to an electronics appliance shop or buy online through a store. Over 80% of us are still heading into stores, so as much as we hear about the online shopping experience taking over, it's a slow growth, though fast compared to bricks and mortar shopping growth.
Best and worst bricks and mortar stores
Best shops for electronics
Overall scores
Betta: 83%
Retravision: 82%
Bing Lee: 80%
Domayne: 78%
Good Guys: 77%
David Jones: 76%
JB Hi-Fi: 75%
Harvey Norman: 75%
Bunnings: 74%
Myer: 73%
Officeworks: 72%
Ikea: 72%
Big W: 70%
Kmart: 68%
Target: 65%
Best instore overall satisfaction: Betta
Betta
took out our most coveted first spot, with many praising it for its customer
service, delivery and after-sales service. While the range of products and
brands was average, as was value for money, it certainly outperformed most competitors in
these areas. Retravision scored almost as well as Betta, and had a better range of products and brands. We
didn't have enough survey respondents to know how Retravision's delivery and
after-sales service stacked up.
Worst instore overall
satisfaction: Target
The
budget department stores, such as Big W, Kmart and Target were consistently
rated lower than others in almost all categories except value for money;
however Target came out worst of all. Kmart and Target had low scores for range or products and brands, and many respondents said it was difficult to find customer service instore.
Best: Retravision, Bing Lee, Domayne, Good Guys, JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman & Bunnings
Almost
all the major electronic stores had good scores for product and range
availability, the top ones being Domayne, Good Guys, JB Hi-Fi and Harvey
Norman. Betta was considered average in this area alone.
Worst: Big W, Kmart & Target
While their prices are cheap, the range of products and
brands at these big retailers is limited. Some respondents link
their inexpensiveness to lack of reliability. It's difficult to get cross-comparison scoring as well, since the products in budget department stores are often own-brand and aren't sold
in other shops.
Best: Big W, Kmart & Target
All three of these big box stores tend to excel at
offering value for money. We consistently see the pricing of their products
being lower than many other stores, though sometimes it seems a bit hit and
miss with performance. One of the most common responses from our members was that "you get what
you pay for".
Worst:
David Jones & Myer
While DJs
and Myer get compliments on their service, there just didn't seem to be enough
floor staff, and this stood out in the commentary of the survey. People make a
conscious decision to purchase at higher prices from the stores based on the
historical service they've received, even though their customer service scores
are average. Some survey respondents commented that they usually only shop here
during sales time to get better prices.
Best: Betta
and Retravision
Both
Betta and Retravision come out on top, separated by only one point. Comments
in the surveys often said that the staff were very
helpful, knowledgeable and if there were any problems with the products
they were quick to resolve them.
Worst: Kmart
Survey respondents complained about not being
able to find staff, and when they did the staff wouldn't have knowledge about the
products they were selling. Some considered it a self-help store. Some
complained about the new layout of the stores – how things were centralised.
Best: Betta and
Bing Lee
We had some glowing recommendations for delivery from Betta
and Bing Lee. A few acknowledged
that even though they had issues with delivery, they still gave them a good
rating because of the way their customer service resolved the issue.
Worst: Big W,
Ikea, Target and Kmart
Ikea had
complaints around the cost of delivery. The
department stores scored poorly for delivery, probably because it's so hard to find customer service to arrange
it.
Best: Betta
Betta was
by far the best performer in the area of after-sales service, followed by
David Jones and Bing Lee. Though comments were absent, we assume this is from
their staff efforts to continue to deliver even after purchase.
Worst: Big W, Kmart & Target
Interestingly,
much of the commentary around the after-sales service referred to the fact that
products failed after a short period of time – and sometimes people just didn't
feel the need to return them as they were so cheap. While understanding that
something inexpensive might fail quickly,
we doubt the intention of any of the big box stores is to create rapidly
expanding landfill.
Pressure to buy extended warranties
We had more than a few comments around extended warranties and how sales people push them. Check out our CHOICE Help page to find out more about extended warranties and how much of an unnecessary expense they are. We've researched terms and conditions on these and in many circumstances found they
were useless, so take a look at the T&Cs before plunking down hard-earned cash for some imaginary need marketers have. If you feel you have been unduly pressured into accepting an extended warranty, you can lodge a complaint
with the ACCC.
Best and worst online stores
The online craze hit us years ago; whether we are impulse buying, or spend hours poring over reviews (we strongly recommend you visit ours, as they are science-based) the hit of dopamine and the strong sense of regret some days later when whatever we've purchased is delivered doesn't seem to be abating. But our survey uncovered some strong feelings about which stores deserve your business.
Best online shops for electronics
Overall scores
Appliances Online: 86%
Bing Lee: 80%
Myer: 79%
Officeworks: 79%
JB Hi-Fi: 78%
David Jones: 78%
Good Guys: 77%
Amazon Australia: 76%
Harvey Norman: 73%
Best online shop for overall satisfaction: Appliances Online
Appliances Online topped every category in our survey. We've had
plenty of good feedback for Appliances Online anecdotally over the last few
years, and even this writer has had some good experiences. For such a young
company (2005)
to have gained so much ground over the last decade is a good thing.
Worst online shop for overall
satisfaction: Harvey Norman
While not
a terrible performance from Harvey Norman, they still score 13 points lower
than Appliances Online. For a company that's been in the industry a long time
and makes a fair amount of money, it's surprising they haven't invested more heavily in online sales and
the accompanying services.
Best: Appliances Online
Worst: Amazon AU, David Jones, Harvey Norman and Myer
Despite
their constant barrage of advertising talking up cheap pricing, Harvey Norman isn't seen this way by savvy consumers. A separation of 13 points between Harvey
Norman and Appliances Online shows some disparity between Harvey Norman's
online pricing and what CHOICE members think about it. This doesn't excuse
DJs, Amazon AU and Myer in any way however, showing that they don't tend to
invest in their online pricing to make enough of a difference for smart
consumers.
Best: Appliances Online
While
there were no terrible websites according to our respondents, Harvey Norman
scored 13 points below Appliances Online. This was primarily because stock
levels mentioned online are often not actually available instore when people head
in to pick them up.
Best online shop payment options: Appliances Online, Myer, Bing Lee & David Jones
Best online shop for delivery:
Appliances Online
Worst online shop for delivery:
Harvey Norman
Delivery
time, expense, installation issues, problems with breakages in deliveries if they
arrive at all, delivery windows of a whole day rather than hours – the problems
seemed endless with Harvey Norman. We think they need to take a long hard look
at this aspect of their logistics. If other companies can get it right, there
is definitely a skills gap at their franchises.
Best: Appliances Online
Worst: All similar, apart from Appliances Online
We didn't
receive enough samples to cover three of the competitors, so most scored similarly,
however both Amazon Australia and Harvey Norman scored the lowest – 16
points behind Appliances Online.
Worst online shop for returns process:
All similar
We didn't
receive enough samples to cover four of the competitors, so most scored quite
similarly, but always a few points behind Appliances Online.
Extended warranty sold in online stores
One of the things we were disappointed to see is how many
extended warranties are being sold online using pre-selected check boxes – a
kind of drip-pricing. The ACCC picked up on this sort of behaviour by the
airlines a couple of years ago, and convinced companies like Jetstar and Virgin
Australia to stop pre-selecting extras like checked baggage, seat selection,
travel insurance and charity donations.
When even the airline industry, one with significant
issues, thinks pre-ticked extras are a step too far, you have to wonder
what some online stores such as Appliances Online and The Good Guys are thinking.
While it's not against the law, at CHOICE we think it's dodgy practice for any
industry to drip-feed additional expenses to consumers. It's particularly
galling when the extra expense is for an extended warranty, a type of product
that often just sells you rights that you already have under the Australian
Consumer Law. Given Appliances Online comes off so well in our survey, we would
expect more of them.
The only stores online that don't offer extended
warranties and do the decent thing are Amazon, David Jones, JB Hi-Fi and Myer.
Other online retailers offer it but don't default to having the option ticked.
Special mention to Harvey Norman who on every page toward purchase keeps
pestering you for the extended warranty, but at least don't tick it by default.
We asked
over 6000 CHOICE members for their experiences and whether they were satisfied
with the stores they visit. For bricks and mortar stores, we asked CHOICE
members who have purchased a product in the last 12 months instore to rate the
range of products and brands, value for money, customer service, delivery and
after-sales service. For online stores we asked much the same, but added ease
of using the website, payment options and the returns process. We needed at
least 30 responses on any store to include the results in this report.
