Customer satisfaction takes first dip in two years

Customer satisfaction is down for the first time since early 2005, according to the third quarter report of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The Index slides 0.1 percent to 75.2 on its 100-point scale, but it remains 1 percent higher than it was a year ago.

Professor Claes Fornell, head of ACSI at the University of Michigan, said the dip in ACSI can largely be attributed to higher food prices.

Every third quarter ACSI measures consumer non-durables, one of the highest scoring sectors of the Index. Consumer non-durables consistently achieve high customer satisfaction scores because competition between products is high, switching costs are minimal, and prices are relatively low. Though most industries improve this quarter, it is not enough to offset the ACSI decline in food manufacturing, by far the largest industry in consumer non-durables.