Consumer research shows Australia's best-rated department store

With many shoppers and retailers now turning to shopping online, Australian department stores are now trying to offer more than just low prices to keep consumers local.

The renewed retail competition has led to consumer research group Canstar Blue to rank the country's biggest stores in several categories and a separate overall score.

Megan Doyle from Canstar said the standings were ranked on value for money, store layout, range of products, customer service and website visibility.

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The winner and the only department store with a perfect five stars was David Jones.

It also scored five stars in customer service, product range and store layout, scoring three stars in value and website usability.

"Consumers who visit their stores are really really satisfied ... on a number of fronts, including customer service," Ms Doyle said.

Myer, despite scoring high in customer service and product range, was dragged down by its value for money and store layout – making it the least favourite.

The discount department stores Kmart, Big W, Harris Scarfe and Target all outscored Myer with four stars overall.

"I think the discount department stores have really come a long way in changing their ranges; they're really now on-trend," retail expert Gary Mortimer told 9News.

"I think viewers would've expected to see the likes of Kmart up there in number one; it's got a very strong online following and particularly a very strong social media following."

The research has also shown that loyalty is a substantial contributing factor to retail habits, with almost a third of customers always visiting the same department store.