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UK's best and worst e-tailers named in Christmas 2007 online retail satisfaction index
Archived article dated Thursday December 27th 2007
ForeSee Results have released the first Online Retail Satisfaction Index across the Top 30 retail web sites in the UK.
Over 10,500 survey responses were collected from November 26 through December 17 from shoppers who had visited the Top 30 retail web sites within the prior 14 days. Eighty-seven percent of respondents were from England, 10% from Scotland and 3% from Wales.The research was conducted using the methodology of the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and the list of retailers was based on site traffic volume data from IMRG sources and the percentage of UK traffic data from Alexa.com. Each included site has a minimum of 50% UK traffic. The Index measured four primary factors that affect overall customer satisfaction: Brand, Price, Merchandise and Site Experience.
“There's been plenty of research pieces issued in the UK looking at the rise of online shopping and how much is spent via the web especially over Christmas, but no-one has looked at customer satisfaction - a critical factor if online shopping is to increase in popularity,” said Larry Freed, President and CEO of ForeSee Results. “The results have been very insightful. A huge 11% difference in overall satisfaction between the US and UK respondents was identified and a number of sites who are performing badly or unsatisfactorily for customers. Those with 60 points or below are failing to satisfy shoppers, eroding loyalty and are missing a tremendous opportunity to leverage the web channel to improve their bottom line. They are holding back further adoption of web purchasing for the rest of the retail market. Those that are doing well should be applauded for recognising how important it is to get it right.”
Customer satisfaction is vitally important to online retailers. Index findings revealed:
• Loyalty and market share: Shoppers on the group of top-performing sites are a remarkable 31% more likely to buy from that retailer the next time they buy similar merchandise than are shoppers are bottom-performing sites, a compelling leading indicator of loyalty.
• Future purchase: Shoppers on top-performing sites are 22% more likely to buy from the retailer next Christmas, 21% more likely to buy offline from the retailer and 15% more likely to buy from the retailer's web site than are shoppers on bottom-performing sites.
• Positive impression with the retailer overall: As compared to bottom-performing sites, consumers on the top-performing sites are 19% more satisfied with the retailer overall and have an image of the retailer that is 15% higher, which translates to a considerable contribution to brand affinity
• Positive word of mouth recommendation: Shoppers on top-scoring sites are 15% more likely to tell a friend, colleague or family member about the site than are shoppers on the bottom-performing websites
“Getting inside the minds of shoppers and assessing their satisfaction provides a critical perspective on how to maximise the contribution of the web site to drive overall sales, customer satisfaction and loyalty both during the Christmas season and throughout the year,” concluded Freed. “It will be interesting to see the reaction from E-Tailers and gauge how well they respond to the findings and make any improvements.”
“Customer satisfaction is a complementary performance metric to traffic counts and sales data, which tell you what has happened. Satisfaction provides essential qualitative insight as to what shoppers want and how their perceptions influence behaviour,” said Richard Wolff, COO of the Javelin Group.
Tagged as: online shopping index | customer satisfaction
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