Customer happiness peaks between 7am and 8am, with Tuesdays and Wednesdays the days when shoppers feel most satisfied with in-store experience, according to data from HappyOrNot, the company behind the smiley-face feedback terminals located in stores and travel hubs including airports.

Analysis of 57million global data points by HappyOrNot in its latest report – Retail’s Biggest CX Trends in 2025 – also showed that customers’ most dissatisfied times of day are between the hours of 6pm and 8pm, with Sunday the day of the week where consumers feel they have the most negative experiences.

Pricing was the top painpoint among dissatisfied shoppers (25%), followed by checkout processes (21%) and product availability (20%).

“Customer feedback is the cornerstone of improving the retail experience,” Tim Waterton, Chief Revenue Officer at HappyOrNot, said. He added that “real-time feedback can drive smarter decisions and transformative results.”

Pharmacy retail ranked highest when it came to delivering customer experience (CX), with a CX Score of 96.7%, according to the report. Convenience stores ranked second (93.9%) and home & electrical retailers came in third for CX delivery (92.4%). Among pharmacy, convenience and home & electricals, the top driver of shopper satisfaction across all three businesses was staff friendliness.

This follows recent research from the Retail Technology Show, which also highlighted the critical role staff play in delivering compelling in-store experiences. Its research of over 1,000 UK shoppers showed that 55% of consumers feel store associates ‘make or break’ whether they convert, with 41% spending more in well-staffed stores.

Over three quarters (78%) are more likely to become repeat purchasers if they receive good service from staff in-store, underscoring the role of frontline retailer workers as a critical differentiator for CX delivery, conversion and loyalty.