I woke up today and asked myself: “How is e-commerce doing?” Lucky for me (and you), the American Customer Satisfaction Index released their annual e-commerce report today. The report, which rates 225 companies in 47 industries in the U.S., is based on a 100-point scale measured by customer evaluations of products and services. Despite lofty demands, customer satisfaction went up 1 percent to 80.1 for e-commerce websites. With total e-commerce sales jumping 16 percent to $194.3 billion in 2011, I’m actually surprised the index didn’t climb higher.
While some companies saw their ratings drop (sorry Netflix), most saw strong increases. The author of the report, Larry Freed, says expectations from consumers are increasing when it comes to e-commerce. (Conversely, consumers aren’t expecting better service when they walk into a retail store.) Online retailers kept consumers happy in 2011, but with the bar quickly on the rise, will they be able to keep up in 2012?
Read more at usatoday.com.
