JB Hi-Fi and The Good Guys: satisfaction guaranteed? Share This Link on Facebook With news that home-entertainment giant JB Hi-Fi has bought home-appliances giant The Good Guys, the Australian consumer electronics market looks set for a shake-up. Roy Morgan Research considers what the takeover could mean for this competitive sector – and particularly for the other main player, Harvey Norman. In the 12 months to June 2016, over 3 million Australians made at least one purchase from JB Hi-Fi in an average four weeks, making it the clear leader in terms of customer volume. Over a million made at least one purchase from The Good Guys, while the other main player in the consumer electronics retail sector, Harvey Norman, attracted nearly 1.3 million customers in the same time period. Even allowing for customer crossover, the new JB Hi-Fi-Good Guys colossus will dominate the market in this respect, much like Bunnings does in the hardware market. But the implications of this union are not simply in the quantity of customers, but also in the quality of the service provided to them.

Not only has The Good Guys triumphed in the Furniture/Electrical Store category of the Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards every month this year so far with scores consistently over 90%, but JB Hi-Fi has been close behind it in second place (also with scores hovering around 90% and above). Customer satisfaction: The Good Guys and JB Hi-Fi set the pace in consumer electronics Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), July 2015-June 2016, n=14,956 While Harvey Norman also has a good track record for customer satisfaction, their current level of 84% puts them slightly on the back foot in fourth place – especially if JB Hi-Fi and The Good Guys’ industry-leading dedication to their customers results in a whole that is even greater than the sum of its parts. Of Australians who shop at JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys and Harvey Norman in an average four weeks, JB Hi-Fi’s customers are from the highest-earning households, with a mean household income of $115,000 – well above the total household average of $99,000.

In second spot are Harvey Norman shoppers (from households with a mean income of $107,000), followed by The Good Guys’ customers ($98,000). Harvey Norman’s customers are the oldest of the three retailers, with a mean age of 50 years, slightly ahead of people who shop at The Good Guys, who average 49 years. In comparison, JB Hi-Fi’s customers are practically in the blush of youth, with an average age of 40!devil vacuum cleaner commercial How JB Hi-Fi, Good Guys and Harvey Norman customers differharga service vacuum cleaner Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan Research, says:compact cylinder vacuum cleaner “With customers as happy as The Good Guys’ and JB Hi-Fi's customers, the announcement of this merger is bound to make many people even happier, including shareholders.

“While both will remain separate brands and companies in the retail world, the merger may influence their happy customers to shop at both stores. Of course, only time will tell whether JB Hi-Fi’s younger, higher-earning customers will now be inspired to visit The Good Guys when purchasing household appliances, boosting the latter’s profitability with their above-average buying power. “Furthermore, the similarity in age of The Good Guys and Harvey Norman customers could pose a challenge for the latter, with JB Hi-Fi’s takeover of The Good Guys almost certain to bring with it revitalised business and marketing strategies designed to make consumers take notice.” For comments or more information please contact: Roy Morgan Research - Enquiries Office: (+61) (03) 9224 5309 Roy Morgan Research is the largest independent Australian research company, with offices throughout Australia, as well as in Indonesia, the United States and the United Kingdom. A full service research organisation specialising in omnibus and syndicated data, Roy Morgan Research has over 70 years’ experience in collecting objective, independent information on consumers.

The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.In a top-secret, padded room at the Dyson research and development facility in Wiltshire, there are several microphone stands at different heights. They could be waiting for the Jackson Five to show up and sing Rockin’ Robin. But, no: this is a semi-anechoic chamber where new products are tested. It was here that engineers refined the tiny motor that lives inside the handle of Dyson’s new Supersonic hair dryer, launched in Selfridges this week. The motor impeller was making what its inventor calls “a dreadful racket” until they figured out that if you put 13 blades on it instead of the usual 11, one tone in the motor would be pushed above the audible range for humans.

Basically, what I hold in my hand is the first blow-drying tool that doesn’t make your arm ache until it’s about to drop off and can only be heard by Labradors. It took 103 engineers, four years and £71 million to produce and I want one right this minute, even though it retails at a hair-raising £299. Unfortunately, letting one drop accidentally into my bag is not an option as we’re in a high-security zone. I am asked to initial a statement that I will not disclose anything I have seen. I don’t understand anything I’ve seen, but am utterly in awe. Three-dimensional shapes emerge from chalky sarcophaguses, drawn in thin air by lasers. It feels a bit like science, and a lot like magic. Merlin himself, white of hair and puckish of countenance, with exceptionally fine blue eyes, is to be found in his large, glass office on the first floor. Propped against the walls are things that were once called Hoovers, but which future generations will know as Dysons. It’s quite something to become a noun;

few men manage it. If anyone deserves it, it’s Sir James Dyson, Order of Merit, Fellow of the Royal Society, Knight Bachelor, husband of Deirdre (since 1968), father of three, grandfather of six and – oh, yes, I nearly forgot – net worth of £3.2billion. Come on, he can spare one hairdryer, can’t he? The glorious campus we can see through the windows, Californian in its scale and vibe, was built on Dyson’s ability to turn work-horse household devices into thoroughbred objects of desire. He invented the iconic Dual Cyclone Bagless Vacuum Cleaner because he got fed up with the family Hoover losing suction when it filled up with dust. Things that don’t work properly really bug him, which is why we are here to talk about the European Union. After much thought, Dyson is coming out passionately for Brexit. In fact, he has worked out that, should we vote to leave in 12 days’ time, we could be much better off, both in spirit and in wallet. “When the Remain campaign tells us no one will trade with us if we leave the EU, sorry, it’s absolute cobblers.

Our trade imbalance with Europe is running at nine billion a month and rising. If this trend continues, that is £100bn a year.” He jabs at a graph. “If, as David Cameron suggested, they imposed a tariff of 10 per cent on us, we will do the same in return. We buy more from Europe than they buy from us, so we would be the net beneficiary and based on these numbers it would bring £10bn into the UK annually. Added to our net EU contribution, it would make us around £18.5bn better off each year if we left the EU,” he concludes with quiet triumph. To a non-billionaire, that sounds quite a good deal. Enough to buy me a Supersonic Dyson hairdryer, perhaps? “Anyway,” he hurries on, strangely not taking the hint, “the EU would be committing commercial suicide to impose a tariff because we import £100bn [of goods] and we only send £10bn there – I didn’t want to get too graphy, but here are a few graphs.” The man is nothing if not meticulous. Dyson exports far more to the rest of he world (81 per cent) than Europe (19 per cent).

“We’re very pleased with the European market – we’re number one in Germany and France – but it’s small and the real growing and exciting markets are outside Europe.” He says the much-trumpeted single market isn’t really a single market at all. “They have different languages which, for an exporter, means that everything from the box to the instruction manual has to be in a different language. The plugs are different. The laws are different. It’s not a single market. The only communality is that there’s no tariff, but the pound going up against the euro is far more damaging than any tariff. If the pound rises, £100 milion is quickly wiped off.” The problem with the EU’s free movement of people is that it doesn’t bring Dyson the brilliant boffins he needs. “We’re not allowed to employ them, unless they’re from the EU. At the moment, if we want to hire a foreign engineer, it takes four and a half months to go through the Home Office procedure. He produces another staggering fact.

“Sixty per cent of engineering undergraduates at British universities are from outside the EU, and 90 per cent of people doing research in science and engineering at British universities are from outside the EU. And we chuck them out!” He gives a trodden-puppy yelp. So hiring a low-paid barista from Bratislava is no problem, but a prized physicist from Taiwan is a logistical nightmare. The Government claims that, if a non-EU citizen gets a job within two months of finishing their research, then they can stay here for two years. “The point is that it’s completely mad not to welcome them,” he says, “why on earth would you chuck out researchers with that valuable technology which they then take back to China or Singapore and use it against us? Softly spoken, Dyson’s Home Service Received Pronunciation tones become incensed when he talks about what he sees as our disloyalty to Commonwealth countries. “They fought for us in two world wars. So that particularly upsets me.

We’re missing out on all those people who have helped us and with whom we have a great affinity, often a common language. "Culturally, it’s all wrong. We’re not only excluding them from our country, we’re charging them import duty because we’re forced to by the EU. And the food’s cheaper, too.” His views on Brussels have been shaped by bitter experience. Dyson sits on several European committees. “And we’ve never once during 25 years ever got any clause or measure that we wanted into a European directive. Never once have we been able to block the slightest thing.” Ah, so it’s a bit like the Eurovision Song Contest – Royaume-Uni, nul points?“At least they have voting at Eurovision. These sessions are dominated by very large companies who agree on their approach before the meeting and so vote together as a bloc. And that’s why we never get anywhere. We think that’s anti-competitive practice and we would love to prove it but…” he gives a helpless shrug.

Years ago, when a practically penniless James was tugging his first vacuum cleaner round Europe, he came up against what he brilliantly calls “vossn’t-invented-here syndrome”. His wife calls him stubborn and he must be because several times he has joined battle against the multi-headed hydra at the European Court. In one notorious case, Dyson argued that vacuum cleaners should be tested in real homes, just as consumers would use them, in line with what the EU claimed it wanted. His competitors, who make machines with paper bags which clog, insisted the tests should take place in laboratories with brand new bags and filters. “The court said there isn’t a test for home use, which is a complete…” he searches for a kinder word, “…untruth. So it’s a politically motivated court of justice. Politically motivated to protect vested interests. I know what they’re like. I know how we have absolutely no control of what goes on in the EU and it’s starting to affect what we do here.”

Dyson’s slight hesitation in speaking out is that he thinks that David Cameron and George Osborne are good at their jobs and would like them to stay on after the referendum. “It’s just that on this issue I think they’re fundamentally wrong. I don’t just mean from the business point of view, I mean from the point of view of sovereignty and our whole ability to govern ourselves. We will create more wealth and more jobs by being outside the EU than we will within it and we will be in control of our destiny. And control, I think, is the most important thing in life and business.” He says what he fears is staying in. “There is no status quo. Europe’s going to change. We all take risks, but they’re very calculated risks. The last thing I would ever want to do is to put myself in somebody else’s hands. So for me the risk is in putting ourselves in the hands of Europe. Not just the other countries, but the Brussels bureaucrats. What I simply can’t understand is why anyone would want to put themselves under their control.”