Which retailers will thrive in 2009 and which will have an uphill battle? A survey of customer satisfaction during the holiday season may shed light on those issues.
Amazon and Netflix delighted online shoppers, according to the annual Top 40 Online Retail Satisfaction Index from ForeSee Results and FGI Research. Meanwhile, satisfaction with Web sites for Circuit City, Gap, Home Depot, HSN, Neiman Marcus, and Overstock fell below industry standards.
Researchers relied on the methodology of the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) to examine how successful the top 40 retail Web sites were. The study found that a highly satisfied online shopper is 73 percent more likely to purchase online, 38 percent more likely to purchase offline, and 75 percent more likely to recommend than a dissatisfied Web shopper.
“In a recession, knowing that improving customer satisfaction with your Web site can engender that kind of loyalty and purchase intent is like money in the bank,” said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee. “But too many e-retailers are ignoring this crucial metric, and it shows in the results of our study. Only two of the 40 measured e-tailers scored above 80, and more than a quarter scored 70 or below. Nearly 40 percent saw satisfaction drop year over year. That’s just not playing to win in this economy.”
The Good, Bad and Ugly
The e-retailers scoring above 80 on the study’s 100-point scale are Amazon and Netflix, both at 84. QVC was a distant third at 79. Not surprisingly, Amazon just reported its best-ever holiday season.
Freed said, “Amazon is setting the bar for online retail satisfaction and sales, and I expect they will have better financial results than the rest.”
What’s more, only 10 Web sites improved online shopper satisfaction since the 2007 holiday shopping season. The most improved were Walmart.com (up…