Amazon, Idea, Apple ahead of rivals in customer experience, says survey

Amazon, Idea Cellular and Bigbasket are some the brands that have beaten their rivals when it comes to dealing with customers, according to Forrester’s India Customer Experience Index, 2016.

Based on a survey of more than 18,000 metro Indian online adult consumers that measures and ranks the CX quality at 72 brands in India, Forrester’s CX Index 2016 reveals that Apple provides the best customer experience in the PC and mobile manufacturer categories, and Idea Cellular in the wireless service provider industry.

This year’s findings show that most brands in India increased their CX Index scores this year but it is the foreign brands leading the CX rankings.

Of the eight industries surveyed, five had leaders that were foreign MNCs — Best Price (Walmart) in traditional retail, Amazon in digital retail, American Express in credit cards, and Apple in PC and mobile manufacturing. On the home front, Tata AIG and Bharti AXA lead amongst the auto and home insurance providers, Kotak Mahindra in banks, and Idea Cellular among wireless service providers.

Overall, the PC manufacturer industry improved three spots from 2015 to share the leadership of the industry rankings for 2016 with credit card providers and banks.

In the telecom services space, Idea Cellular was the provider with the highest score. The wireless service industry’s eight-point improvement in its average score was one of the biggest changes for any industry.

“Improvement in the industry is the result of steep competition. For instance, incumbent brands felt sufficiently threatened by new player Reliance Jio to offer better products, services, and rates. India’s telecom regulatory body also focused on service quality issues late last year, pushing service providers to improve their operations. Despite this, the industry only moved from poor to OK, leaving a lot of room for improvement,” Forrestor Research said in a note.