Consumers are not only going online to shop in ever greater numbers, they’re also more satisfied with their e-commerce experiences than with their bricks-and-mortar shopping. That’s one of the findings in the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index, which is based on interviews with about 70,000 Americans regarding over 225 companies in 47 industries. Each company gets a rating from 0 to 100. Interestingly enough, higher scores tend to relate to higher earnings and stock returns – whether in up or down markets.
One of the categories in the ACSI survey is e-commerce. Here’s how the organization describes its findings: “Customer satisfaction with online retail rebounds 1.3% to 81 in 2011, making the category the clear winner compared with traditional retailers (average of 76.1 overall). While this customer satisfaction score is lower than it was two years ago, it is high enough to surpass the individual scores of most traditional retailers.”
Here’s a quick rundown of the best-performing e-tailers for 2011 on the new ASCI list:
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) — 86: It seems like you can buy just about anything on the site , and the products are shipped with extreme speed. The company has also been aggressive in new frontiers of e-commerce, such as mobile. The Kindle Fire has been a success and has become a worthy rival of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad.
Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) — 83: The company certainly has a great e-commerce platform and treats customers well. But its stock performance has been miserable, down 12% for 2012. Another bad sign: The company hasn’t filed timely reports with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) — 81: Over the past couple years, the company has staged a solid turnaround. The PayPal division is a huge growth driver, and eBay continues to innovate with its mobile apps.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) — 74: The score has plunged 14% over the past year. Then again, Netflix hiked its prices last year and attempted to split apart its DVD delivery business and its streaming video unit — which then had to be abandoned because of an uproar from customers.
Check out the ASCI’s full list of charts here, or take a look at individual sectors here.
