SA Consumers are satisfied with their laptop computers

The SAcsi is an independent national benchmark of customer satisfaction with the quality of products and services available to household consumers in South Africa. The data for this release was collected between April and June 2013 using both telephonic and web-based surveys.

Dell and Samsung are the laptop industry leaders and reported SAcsi scores which are 1.3% above the industry average. Acer and HP are on par with the industry average, and Lenovo is only just below industry par at 1.4% below the industry average.

"Consumers are clearly very satisfied with their laptops. However, the results indicate that there is little differentiation amongst the various laptop brands from a customer satisfaction point of view. The differences between the satisfaction scores for each of the bands are minimal, almost negligible. Furthermore, their variation form the industry average is also negligible. This means that customers who own laptops of the brands measured are satisfied with the product regardless of the brand they own," says Prof. Adré Schreuder, founder and chair of the SAcsi,

"When we look at the individual scores of each brand within the components of the SAcsi model (perceived value, perceived quality, customer expectations) none of the brands show noticeable differences from the others. This means that customers have high expectations of the product, each of the brands has met these expectations, and consumers feel that they get value for money. The only area where we noticed a difference was in the component of customer loyalty. Dell and HP showed high scores of customer loyalty relative to the other brands," commented Schreuder.

Relative to the international ACSI scores, South Africa's laptop industry score is the same as that of the USA (79) which serves as the international benchmark.

Schreuder commended the laptop industry for achieving a high customer satisfaction score, but also expressed concern about the relative lack of differentiation among the top brands. "Our industry players have done well, but as South African consumers are becoming more discerning, the undifferentiated market leaves the door open for any new differentiated entrant," he said.

SAcsi holds a licence with the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), and now forms part of a growing number of ACSI-licensed partner countries worldwide, which allows South Africa to compare its industries' customer satisfaction with this global community. "Through this proven methodology, SAcsi aims to be the voice of the customers to the major industry players in the South African market," says Schreuder.

The desired outcome for any customer-centric company is customer loyalty, which is the pinnacle of the SAcsi model. "The SAcsi model provides companies with metrics that indicate the drivers of customer satisfaction - the ultimate driver of customer loyalty - and which of these drivers can best be leveraged to ultimately improve customer loyalty.