Happy shoppers queue at Ikea

IT IS renowned for long queues at its checkouts, flatpack furniture with devilishly difficult instructions and cheap prices. But Ikea had the best record last year for keeping its customers satisfied.

The Swedish furniture and furnishings chain was ranked top in a survey of 6,000 shoppers covering 69 retailers from department stores to DIY shops.

It knocked John Lewis off the number one spot by a fraction of a point. Ikea failed to top the survey in any of the eight individual categories which included convenience, price, layout and range of goods, but scored well enough in each to have a total Consumer Satisfaction Index of 161.

The Safeway supermarkets chain, which is now part of Morrisons, came bottom in the sixth annual survey by analysts Verdict. Safeway managed only 23 points. Verdict said that while some of this could be to do with the changeover in stores to the Morrisons brand, it did badly across the board.

Other stores challenging for bottom place included Somerfield, Iceland, Kwik Save, Co-op and Lidl.