According to the latest Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore conducted by the Institute of Service Excellence at SMU (ISES), customer satisfaction for the retail and infocomm sectors in Singapore edged up in the first quarter of 2015, The score for retail rose by 0.5 per cent or 0.4 points year-on-year to 70 points while that for infocomm rose by 0.9 per cent or 0.6 points to 67.4. "Despite minor movements in the retail scores, an analysis of the results found that the importance of customers' perceptions of value -- the bang for their buck – in driving satisfaction has declined in the last two years. While price promotions for instance can help drive customers into stores, they have become increasingly insufficient in driving overall satisfaction," said SMU Assistant Professor of Marketing (Practice) and ISES Academic Director Associate Professor Marcus Lee. He added that in the longer term, companies should use branding and communications to position the customer experience such that customers better know what to expect. "In essence, businesses are ensuring they are attracting the group of customers that will appreciate their service proposition," said Associate Prof Lee.