Rude sales staff, limited choice of goods and high prices are among some of the biggest gripes customers have about shopping in Bermuda, according to a survey released by Government yesterday.The Department of Consumer Affairs commissioned two surveys last year one looking at consumer experience and knowledge of retail shopping on the Island and the other to get the retailers’ perspective.But a number of retailers have defended their cause, saying that there was a good selection of items for the customer to choose from and rude sales staff were the exception to the rule.A total of 61.9 percent of respondents cited convenience as their favourite reason for shopping in Bermuda, followed by staff/personal and availability of products.Meanwhile residents spent approximately $29 million on online shopping in 2010, with the majority of the population buying goods on the Internet.The study, the findings of which were announced in the Senate by Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Kim Wilson yesterday, was the first of its kind to survey traders and was the third time consumers had been polled, with the first being conducted in 2001 and the second eight years ago.“The Consumer Survey of 2010 recorded significant increases in customer satisfaction over the results of the 2003 survey,” said Ms Wilson. “Three attributes, the quality of goods (98 percent), the handling of returns (98 percent), and the frequency of sales (96 percent), nearly met customer expectation levels.“Careful examination of the data shows however that the rise in index scores was largely attributed to a downgrading of importance of the attribute by the consumer. In other words, consumers lowered their expectations in 2010 compared to 2003.”The 2010 consumer survey indicated that 25.3 percent of participants always look for the lowest prices, while 23.3 percent purchase items regardless of price. Only 4.5 percent of respondents shopped impulsively and 2.5 percent buy according to the latest trends. Furthermore females were more likely than males by 71.7 percent to 28.3 percent respectively to purchase items on sale and males were more inclined to buy what they wanted no matter the price was than their female counterparts by 54.3 percent to 45.7 percent.“When consumers were asked what they liked most about shopping in Bermuda, 61.9 percent of respondents cited ‘convenience’ as the main reason, followed by staff/personnel and availability of products,” said Ms Wilson.“When asked what they don’t like about shopping in Bermuda, limited choices of goods was the main concern, followed by high prices, rude sales staff, unavailability of goods and poor quality items.”Kristi Grayston, owner of Pulp & Circumstance, said that she thought there was quite a bit of selection and it had only been limited by people shopping overseas, while visitors, from her experience, enjoyed coming to Bermuda to shop.Ms Grayston said she had not experienced many rude sales staff and encouraged anyone who encountered problems to report them to the manager to deal with.“I have had some appalling experiences with service overseas,” she said. “And I think most people in retail in Bermuda genuinely want to help you.”Boyd Vallis, who along with his wife runs Fairtrade Bermuda in Dockyard, said that his shop was stocked with a variety of goods that other stores didn’t have and was competitively priced on demand at US prices or below. He added that his staff were also very helpful.“If you do not like our prices just say so,” he said.He continued: “All retail the world over has the same issues with online shopping. It’s the future. The main problem we have here in Bermuda is our size. We are too small a locale to have the turnover or the numbers of local shoppers to make it like in the past.“It’s easy to shop online and get whatever you need. the problems are numerous with that though too. If you cannot hold the product or try it on there are lots of potential issues.”Among the most difficult to obtain products on the island were clothing in general (19.2 percent), shoes (15.4 percent), women’s clothing (13.6 percent) and household furnishings (10.5 percent).As for their main reason for not shopping at certain stores, 33.6 percent said rude staff or a lack of customer service, followed by high prices (27.3 percent), not honouring warrantees (7.8 percent) and poor quality items (4.7 percent).When it came to grievances, according to the survey one in five or 18.4 percent of local residents complained about a product or a service during the 12-month period compared to 25.4 percent in the 2003 study. The area of main concern, as in previous studies, was for faulty appliances, doubling in 2010 (56.1 percent versus 28 percent in 2003).Complaints about poor service, while still the number two gripe, declined by almost half last year to 12.2 percent from 22.4 percent eight years ago. Out-of-date food was also a worry, but less so in 2010 (9.8 percent compared to 19.6 percent in 2003).The study found that 85.3 percent of respondents bought items overseas out of which 98.6 percent shopped while travelling virtually the same as in 2003 and 2001. Furthermore 38.8 percent of consumers felt that overseas shopping was a better deal when adding customs duty, warranties and other costs, while new airline luggage restrictions resulted in one in five people reducing their purchases.The second part of the survey, which looked at the level of importance placed on a product or service and meeting expectations from a retailer perspective, revealed that traders rated themselves higher in the provision of services than customers.“With regards to shopping style, retailers were under the impression that their customers purchase whatever they want no matter what the price (38.8 percent),” said Ms Wilson.“Consumers, on the other hand were more likely to say that they do not have a particular shopping style (25 percent) or more importantly, that they always look for the lowest prices (25.3 percent).“This divide was further compounded by retailers believing that only 3.9 percent of consumers shop for items when on sale when in fact 19 percent of consumers themselves stated that they shop this way.“When retailers were asked ‘what items they have difficulty in providing for customers’, nearly eight in 10 retailers (79 percent) stated that there were no items that were difficult to provide for consumers.The survey found that nine out of 10 (89.3 percent) retailers felt their prices were competitive when custom duties, freight and other charges incurred in bringing goods into Bermuda were taken into account, compared to almost four in 10 (37.1 percent) of consumers who said the same.”In spite of the challenges faced by retailers, nearly two-thirds of them are either very optimistic or somewhat optimistic about the industry’s future,” concluded Ms Wilson.