Informing customers to enable an educated choice
The After-Sales Service Barometer
In seven years, the After-Sales Service Barometer has become an essential information and benchmarking tool. It allows the general public to make informed purchase decisions based on the repairability and reliability of more than 150 brands, summarized by their associated sustainability scores. The After-Sales Service Barometer also aims to support industry operators and public authorities in their work to extend product life spans.
Designed with Harris Interactive, the “After-Sales Service Barometer” is based on several sources of data:
- a customer study, a study of the types of after-sales service interventions and a study of breakdowns;
- the Fnac Darty customer study, conducted between July 2023 and August 2024 with 9,933 respondents giving their reasons for purchasing products;
- the study of 1,149,744 after-sales service interventions between August 2023 and July 2024, which allows us to calculate our sustainability indicators, the types of interventions and the average age of repaired products.
The After-Sales Service Barometer analyzes and compares the sustainability of appliances and brands across nearly 100 product families. Sorted by segment and category, it contains the brand ranking, the price of spare parts, tips to avoid breakdowns and the main data used to determine the ranking.
An analysis of repairs carried out in 2024 for Darty Max subscribers showed that the age of most of the products we repaired for our customers increased over the past year. As a QualiRépar-labeled repairer, Fnac Darty is also continuing to strengthen its repair capabilities by stepping up the training of new technicians: nearly 200 were trained in 2024.
Sustainability Indicators
In 2024, Fnac Darty’s sustainability analysts provided a more dynamic analysis by also including developments over the past 12 months. Each item description includes each brand’s movement in the ranking since the last barometer and the increase or decrease in reliability, repairability, availability and the price of spare parts.
The calculation of a sustainability score for each product is a unique initiative in the retail world. It allows manufacturers to improve, consumers to be better informed before purchasing, and Fnac Darty to reduce the impact of its activities on the environment through products that last longer.
The sustainability score is the tool used to rank brands by product category in our After-Sales Service Barometer. It is calculated by cross-referencing breakdown rates and the availability of spare parts.
The Sustainable Choice
The information gleaned from the “After-Sales Service Barometer” showcases the brands that make the most effort to produce reliable, repairable and more energy-efficient products. In 2019, Fnac Darty created a clear and objective labeling system: the “Sustainable Choice.” The criteria used to select products and design this label, which is prominently placed on products on shelves and shopping sites, are based on the sustainability score, the energy label, and the government repairability index for eligible products. The selection is reviewed every three months to include new products. In 2023, Fnac- and Darty-branded products included more than 900 “Sustainable Choice” items.
Labo Fnac
Informing in complete independence: the historic mission of Labo Fnac
Labo Fnac is a one-of-a-kind concept and brings together experts to independently test the technical performance of hundreds of new electronic products every year, using a range of sophisticated measuring systems. Labo Fnac’s scientific and objective methods are recognized by the biggest brands, which regularly come to have their prototypes evaluated.
Informed delivery
In 2021, Fnac Darty expanded the information provided to customers in the specialized retail market to include ground-breaking data: the GHG emissions linked to the delivery of one kilogram of parcels, depending on the delivery service, which it published on the Fnac and Darty websites. This information, called “informed delivery”, has been available to all online customers since February 2022.
Fnac Darty is fully aware that customer travel can have a significant impact on the total carbon footprint of a delivery (for parcels delivered to a collection point), therefore it has worked with Datagir, a public service supported by ADEME (the French Environment and Energy Management Agency), to provide online customers with an eco-calculator.