LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Customer satisfaction at the national level fell 0.3% to 74.5 on a 0-100 scale for the final quarter of 2011, according to the National Customer Satisfaction Index (NCSI-UK). The decrease is the result of weakened customer satisfaction with retail. Electrical Retailers and Petrol Stations show the largest drops in customer satisfaction; Department Stores and E-Commerce decline slightly, and Supermarkets are unchanged, but are also the lowest-scoring category in retail.
Only 39% of retailers improved customer satisfaction, while 50% declined and 11% registered no change.
After three years of small gains, customer satisfaction with department stores ebbs 1% to an NCSI score of 78. John Lewis leads at 83, despite a 1% decrease. In second place, Marks & Spencer slips to 78, matching the industry average. House of Fraser (77) and Debenhams (76) both improve by 1%.
Customer satisfaction with electrical retailers falls by 2.6% to an NCSI score of 76. Small chains have declined the most (down 5% to 77), having difficulty matching the pricing power of large retailers and online competition. At a score of 78 (up 1%) Argos has higher customer satisfaction than traditional electrical retailers. Comet is down 1% to tie Currys (unchanged) at 75.
Customer satisfaction with supermarkets is unchanged at 75, lower than any other retail category except for petrol stations. Waitrose leads supermarket customer satisfaction with an NCSI score of 84, followed by the aggregate of all smaller grocery stores (including M&S and Aldi) at 80. Asda maintains a score of 79, and Morrisons advances 1% to 78, well ahead of the industry average. Sainsbury’s shows the most improvement among the large supermarket chains (up 3% to 75). Tesco drops to its lowest score in five years (-3% to 70) followed by The Co-operative (-3%) at 68.
E-commerce has the highest customer satisfaction of any industry tracked by the NCSI, despite slipping to 83 from last year’s all time high score of 84. Amazon (-1%) and Play.com (+1%) tie at 87 for the highest customer satisfaction score of any company in 2011. Apple’s iTunes gains 1% to 82, eBay falls 1% to 81, and Ticketmaster drops 3% to 75.
Full report and benchmark scores available at www.cfigroup.com.
About NCSI-UK (www.ncsiuk.com)
The National Customer Satisfaction Index applies the technology and methodology of CFI Group and the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Results are based on survey data from more than 6,000 customers collected via online panel during Q4 of 2011. This methodology was developed at the University of Michigan and has been adopted worldwide as a leading macro- and micro-level indicator by universities, governments, and countries including the United States (www.theacsi.org), the United Kingdom (www.ncsiuk.com), Sweden, Singapore, Korea, Turkey, South Africa, Mexico, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, and Barbados.
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