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E-commerce sites improving customer service

May 9, 2012

A record 36 of the Top 100 online retailers achieved the "threshold for excellence" on the annual Top 100 E-Retail Satisfaction Index from customer experience analytics firm ForeSee. Scores of 80 or higher on ForeSee's 100-point scale are considered superior customer satisfaction performances. In 2010 and 2011, only 28 websites achieved this distinction, while in 2009 only six websites cleared the mark. The Index in aggregate plateaus, scoring 78 for a third consecutive year.

"We're measuring the biggest players in the game, and they just keep getting better and better," said the study's author, Larry Freed, President and CEO of ForeSee. "Because customer satisfaction, as we measure it, is predictive, that's a good sign not only for the consumer experience, but for the bottom line of Internet retailers as well. If there's a negative spin to these positive trends, it is that this puts even more pressure on all other e-retailers to keep up or catch up."

Amazon continues to set the bar higher, climbing three points to 89, and four points higher than the second-highest scoring websites, Apple.com (85) and QVC.com (85). Apple is also one of the most improved sites from last year, surging five points as did RueLaLa.com.

Foot Locker (79) and JCrew.com (78) each jump four points, and 11 e-retailers improved three points. Netflix is four points down from a year ago, but it regained two points from the Index's holiday season measure.

"Amazon continues to set the standard for e-retailers. The truth is that every consumer who has visited Amazon knowingly or unknowingly benchmarks all other experiences against it, and why wouldn't they? They do everything and they do it well," said Freed. "That is going to spell even bigger trouble for Netflix. The two companies used to vie for number one. Now Netflix is floundering just as Amazon is making deeper moves into streaming video and even original programming. Netflix regained some lost ground, but it's no longer a contender."

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