Flipkart has topped digital retailers ranking for this year’s Forrester India Customer Experience Index. Walmart-owned e-retailer was ranked ahead of Snapdeal, Koovs, Shopclues, and Myntra at 2nd to 5th rank respectively. Importantly, Amazon was ranked at a distant 6th position this year. The ranking was based on a survey of over 10,000 customers in India this year that gauged the customer experience of 39 brands across six industries including insurance, automakers, banks, credit card companies, retail (digital and multichannel).

Importantly, Flipkart jumped from 4th position in 2018 to top this year while Koovs, which was ranked top last year, slipped to 3rd position in 2019. Amazon, on the other hand, was ranked the second-best digital retailer in customer experience last year. “Customer experience leaders grow revenue faster than CX laggards, drive higher brand preference, and can charge more for their products,” the report said.

The company had announced measures this year to boost its customer experience. For instance, Flipkart partnered with National Skill Development Corporation’s Logistics Sector Skill Council (LSC) to train delivery executives on preparing for delivery, knowing about transportation rules and regulations of cities, understanding the entire supply-chain process and the required soft skills through behaviour-focused sessions to improve customer interactions.

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Also, Flipkart had in June this year announced bringing back its rewards system with a revamped programme called SuperCoins that allows its members to redeem it, apart from shopping on Flipkart, across more than 100 partner brands.

“Rewards help in ensuring customers remain loyal to you if discounts may not drive them to your platform as rewards are for those customers who continue to shop on your platform versus discounts that are universal. Through such programmes, you are able to know your customer way better and in return, you reward them,” Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Counterpoint Research had told Financial Express Online.

The overall rank of top 10 brands in Forrester’s India CX Index for this year saw Shoppers Stop on the top followed by Toyota Kirloskar, Flipkart, HDFC Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, American Express, Mahindra and Mahindra, and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

“Brands that want to break away from the pack should focus on emotion: How an experience makes customers feel has a bigger influence on their loyalty to a brand than effectiveness or ease in nearly every industry,” the report said. Companies that led the ranks in other categories included Reliance General Insurance (auto/home insurers), Toyota Kirloskar (auto manufacturers), HDFC Bank (banks), American Express (credit card issuers), and Shoppers Stop (multichannel retailers)