According to the latest findings from the Institute of Service Excellence at SMU (ISES), customer satisfaction for the retail sector fell 3.5 per cent on-year in the first quarter to 69.6 points out of 100. Among the eight retail sub-sectors, furniture stores saw customer satisfaction declining the most with an 11 per cent fall, while department stores saw a 9.1 per cent dip. According to ISES, the decline in retail customers’ satisfaction level was due in part to a fall in tourist satisfaction in all four of the sub-sectors – department stores; fashion apparels; jewellery stores; and clocks and watches – that took into account tourist responses. ISES Director Caroline Lim said: “While both local and tourist respondents were less satisfied with these four sub-sectors compared to 2013, the difference in magnitude of the changes for each group was quite stark, with tourist satisfaction falling 12.2 per cent while local satisfaction dipped 1.9 per cent.”