ForeSee Results has published its 2009 holiday edition of its E-Retail Satisfaction Index, and find that major online retailers made significant strides in improving customer satisfaction during 2009. The survey covered over 10,000 holiday shoppers at the top 40 online retail sites found that overall satisfaction with online shopping increased 5 percent over 2008, with virtually all the top sites showing year-to-year improvements in their satisfaction levels.
“Even in this tough economic climate, e-retail continues to be the bright spot in a dark environment and last year’s declines are proving to be the anomaly,” said ForeSee Results president and CEO Larry Freed, in a statement.
The survey uses the same satisfaction methodology as the University of Michigan’s famous American Customer Satisfaction Index. Any score over 80 is considered “excellent,” and 11 of the top 40 e-retailers managed to pull it off—and none scored below a 70.
Online mega-retailer Amazon.com took the top spot in the survey again, landing a score of 87 which is a 4 percent improvement over 2008. Netflix came in number two with an 86, QVC came in third with 83, and Apple came in fourth at 82. Other sites scoring 80 or higher include Cabela’s, Avon, J.C. Penney, Newegg, L.L. Bean, Systemax, and Victoria’s Secret. Some of the top 40 sites saw massive improvements to their satisfaction scores, with Macys up 13 percent to 79, with the The Gap and Overstock.com each up 10 percent to a new score of 76.
Freed noted that pricing was a major differentiation factor for consumers, given the current economic climate.”But simply cutting prices isn’t necessarily a business model for success, so prioritizing Web site improvements that customers value most is an absolute necessity.” He also noted that just because these Web sites managed to land big satisfaction improvements, it doesn’t mean e-retailing among small and mid-sized businesses is getting any better, since they may not have the resources to invest in their Web marketing and retailing efforts.
