Stirling Sports comes in ahead of the field

Canstar Blue’s research reveals that Stirling Sports is NZ’s favourite Sports Equipment Retailer.

Whether you’re a weekend warrior, a 24-7 fitness junkie or just like to wear the latest sporting brands, to look or perform at your peak, you need the appropriate sports kit.

But high-performance clothing and equipment doesn’t come cheap. Across every sport and athletic activity, the ranges of products available from sports retailers are dominated by global brands, whose big-name products often come with equally big price tags.

But if you’re spending hundreds of dollars on a new pair of running shoes, or a cricket bat, you want to know you’re purchasing the product best suited to your needs and price range. That’s why customer service is such an important part of the sporting goods retail experience.

As part of its mission to help guide NZ consumers, Canstar Blue canvassed the opinions of 928 people who had purchased a product from a sports equipment retailer during the past 12 months. Of the different stores they had visited, the overwhelming majority of respondents had shopped at just two main stores:

• Stirling Sports
• Rebel Sports

To decide which provided the best level of customer satisfaction, each was rated across the following categories:

• Overall Satisfaction
• Value for Money
• Price Compare to Other Retailers
• Customer Service
• Range of Products on Offer
• Layout of Store

Coming out on top and winning Canstar Blue’s award for Most Satisfied Customers | Sports Equipment Retailers was Stirling Sports, which earned Five Stars for Overall Satisfaction, Customer Service and Layout of Store, and Four Stars for Range of Products.

Second was Rebel Sport, which won Five Stars for Range of Products, and Four Stars for Overall Satisfaction, Layout of Store, Price Compared to Other Retailers and Value for Money.

What Customers Want

While value for money is always a top consideration for consumers, in Canstar Blue’s research Customer Service was the top driver of customer satisfaction, at 30%. It’s a result that reflects the importance of customer interaction and guidance in retail. Overall, the other main factors driving our respondents’ positive retail experiences were Value for Money and Range of Products:

In other findings from our survey, it’s interesting to discover that fashion was not a main consideration for our respondents. Only 9% said that it was important for them to have the latest sportswear styles, while nearly a quarter said they were prepared to pay more for equipment from the big brands (22%) and that the best sporting performance requires the best equipment (23%).

Given the huge range of sporting goods on the market, and their price, it’s perhaps no surprise that nearly half of Kiwis like to do their research: 43% of respondents said they thoroughly research their sports equipment purchases online before visiting a bricks-and-mortar store, and a whopping 70% said they then like to wait for the sales to bag a bargain.

Regardless of your sporting ability or fitness level, you can rest assured that when it comes to choosing a sporting retailer, Canstar Blue’s research will give you all the information you need to help pick a winner.