Impact on customers

Our customer base spans virtually every facet of society and includes central, provincial and local government, large, medium and small business, various industries and individuals.

Material issues affecting customers include the protection of customer rights and privacy, and the delivery of outstanding customer service. These issues are managed at an operational level in each of the businesses, in line with Imperial’s decentralised management approach.

Protecting customer rights and privacy

While selling goods and services, we have a responsibility to ensure that the health and safety of customers is not compromised, that their rights are protected and that customers receive a high level of service.

Businesses that deal directly with end consumers have policies in place to protect customer health and safety. Each business is responsible for formulating and applying a policy appropriate to the environment in which it operates. Certain business units, primarily those whose operations do not involve direct interaction with customers, do not have health and safety policies. Where appropriate, customer health and safety policies and procedures are communicated to customers.

In addition, customers are advised of legal safety and health requirements in accordance with applicable legislation.

There were no incidents during the year of non-compliance with voluntary codes regarding the health and safety impacts associated with the use of our products.

Some of our businesses, particularly those in the financial services division, hold confidential customer information, and we recognise our responsibility to rigorously safeguard the privacy of customers in this regard. These businesses have customer data protection policies in place and have invested significantly in technology systems that ensure the encryption and protection of confidential customer data. During the year under review there were no violations of customer privacy or data loss and we did not incur any fines nor were we subject to any litigation regarding breaches of customer privacy or customer data loss.

Our businesses comply fully with the Consumer Protection Act and other customer-related laws, where relevant.

We are committed to the responsible marketing of our products. Advertising is conducted in a variety of mediums by individual business units targeting appropriate markets and customer groups. The group has no record of any complaints having been lodged by competitors or the public regarding unfair or misleading advertisements or practices.

Delivering on our customer service ethos

We recognise the delivery of customer service as a key business imperative. In many of our businesses it is part of our service level agreements with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and it also provides an opportunity for us to differentiate ourselves, particularly in fiercely competitive markets such as car rental. With regards our consumer-facing businesses, it is also a matter of legal compliance and is governed by the Consumer Protection Act.

Virtually all our businesses undertake regular internal and independent customer satisfaction surveys to assess performance on service delivery, product quality, responsiveness and communication. OEMs also conduct regular, standardised customer service surveys on our customers. Our ability to deliver ongoing outstanding customer service to the end-customer is fundamental to the strength and sustainability of our ongoing relationships with these OEMs.

CASE STUDY Europcar adopts international benchmark in customer service surveying The ability to deliver an enhanced customer experience is a key differentiator in the highly competitive car rental industry. During the year, Europcar leveraged the strength of its global brand to adopt the internationally recognised Net Promoter Score (NPS) methodology of assessing, benchmarking and improving its service to customers. The tool delivers a Net Promoter Score for the company, indicating how likely customers are to promote the company to family and friends, based on how happy they were with the overall service experience. Relevant departments in the business are kept updated on service issues and progress is continuously tracked. Customers can request contact from Europcar management regarding their ratings and/or comments. To date 26 000 customers have been surveyed. There are 26 countries on the centralised Europcar system, which provides Europcar South Africa with a valuable international benchmark. The company is now ranked within the top 10.