Retail Customer Satisfaction Down Across Sectors

While Internet retail gained favor, supermarkets and drug stores in particular lost ground.

February 19, 2015

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Customer satisfaction with retail is down for the first time in four years, according to a report released yesterday by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). All brick-and-mortar retail categories showed weakening or flat customer satisfaction for the final quarter of 2014, with only Internet retail up from a year prior.

“Although there are several signs that the economy might finally take off, deteriorating customer satisfaction with retail suggests that consumer demand will not be where it needs to be,” said Claes Fornell, ACSI chairman and founder, in a press release.

The ACSI Retail Report 2014 covers customer satisfaction with supermarkets, department and discount stores, Internet retail, specialty retail stores and health and personal care stores. Customer satisfaction with Internet retailers rebounded 5.1% to an ACSI score of 82, with smaller companies and the online business of brick-and-mortar retailers responsible for much of the improvement.

Customer satisfaction with department and discount stores stayed flat with an ACSI score of 77, while the gap between the best- and worst-ranked companies continued to grow. Walmart dropped 4% to 68, placing at the bottom of its category. With its lowest level of customer satisfaction since 2007, Walmart is now well behind Target, Meijer and Sears.

Dollar Tree (79) has been particularly successful with frozen and refrigerated food and its fast-moving inventory and consistent low prices appear to satisfy customers more than the other “dollar” stores, Dollar General and Family Dollar (both 75). “This may change as Dollar Tree acquires Family Dollar,” said ACSI director David VanAmburg. “Mergers and acquisitions usually lead to lower customer satisfaction. There are significant challenges involved in combining operations of two large companies, at least in the short term. And for customers, bigger is not always better.”

Customer satisfaction with drug stores slipped 2.5% to an ACSI score of 77, with the big three chains (CVS Caremark, Walgreens, Rite Aid) lagging behind smaller drug stores. Among the big three, Rite Aid leaped 5% to 78, while CVS Caremark dipped slightly at -1% to 75.

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