Amazon tops customer satisfacti​on index

Christmas shoppers have named Amazon as the best online retailer in the annual Foresee Online Retail Satisfaction Index, which ranks the UK’s top 40 online retailer websites. Amazon.co.uk, which has just launched its luxury fashion

section, Premium Store, took the top spot with a score of 86 out of 100, narrowly beating off competition from the Amazon US website, which scored 84, putting both sites first and second on the customer satisfaction leader board.

Closely followed by British department store John Lewis, which once again scored 80 to hold steady in third. There was also positive news for Debenhams, who claimed eighth spot as well as the most-improved online retailer accolade in terms of customer satisfaction, by improving its score by four points to 76 from last year’s survey.

Other fashion retailers ranking in the top forty included Marks & Spencer, New Look, Sports Direct, Next, Asos, House of Fraser, River Island, Very, and Topshop.

Foresee, the global leader in customer experience analytics, has been analysing customers’ Christmas shopping experiences for six years, and this year’s results are based on almost 10,000 customer surveys collected during November and December.

For the fourth year running the Index has unveiled a slight increase in its aggregate satisfaction of just one point per year, which according to Foresee’s estimates generates a 14 percent increase in the log of revenues generated on the web.

Another key finding of the report was the importance of customer satisfaction, as satisfied customers are 61 percent more likely to be more committed to the brand, 62 percent more likely to purchase from the retailer online, and 67 percent more likely to recommend the retailer than a dissatisfied customer.

Commenting on the results, Foresee’s CEO, Larry Freed, said: “Christmas has always been a critical time of the year for retailers, but the growth in online shopping this year now means that retail websites are more essential than ever.

“For these sites to be competitive, a laser-like focus on the customer experience is paramount. Overall customer satisfaction has increased every year we’ve reported on the top 40 UK retailers at Christmas time, but the last four years have seen increases of just one point per year on aggregate. It’s just not good enough. Any retailer registering an average or lower score is risking loyalty, recommendations, sales, and market share.

“There is a powerful and quantifiable relationship between a positive customer experience online and increased loyalty, sales, and recommendations – online retailers would do well to sit up and pay attention to this research methodology.”