Sony (NYSE:
SNE
) may not be able to sell more PCs, tablets, smartphones or MP3
players than Apple (NASDAQ:
AAPL
). It may not be able to produce a more popular music service than
iTunes or build a better software marketplace than the App Store.
However, Sony could one day top Apple in the area of shopper
satisfaction. According to a new study by
ForeSee
, Apple dropped three points in its 2012 Holiday E-Retail
Satisfaction Index. The eighth-annual report is based on more than
24,000 customer surveys that were collected between Thanksgiving
and Christmas.
Amazon (NASDAQ:
AMZN
) led the pack with a satisfaction index rating of 88 -- the same
rating it achieved in 2011. LLBean.com came in second place with a
rating of 85 (four points higher than the previous year), followed
by QVC.com, which achieved a rating of 84 (one point higher).
Vistaprint.com, 1800Contacts.com, Keurig.com, HSN.com,
Newegg.com, 1800Flowers.com (NASDAQ:
FLWS
) and Scholastic.com were all rated 80 or higher. Even Netflix
(NASDAQ:
NFLX
), which managed to
anger hundreds of thousands of customers
in 2011, achieved an index rating of 80 after increasing its
customer satisfaction by one point. (This study was likely
concluded before the Christmas Eve outage left Netflix subscribers
without their streaming video service.)
Apple also achieved an index rating of 80, which is three points
lower than it was in 2011. By dropping so sharply, Apple has
achieved its lowest score in four years and is no longer one of the
top five online retailers in the index. In fact, Apple now ranks
24th.
Sony is technically lower with an index rating of just 79. In
achieving that rating, however, Sony increased its customer
satisfaction by five points. That is an enormous increase for a
tech company that is struggling in almost every area of its
business, particularly television sets, which used to be its bread
and butter.
ForeSee's index ratings are important because of the way
consumers respond to a positive shopping experience. According to
the report, "Compared to shoppers who report being dissatisfied
with a website, highly satisfied shoppers say they are 67 percent
more likely to consider the company the next time they purchase a
similar product.
"Satisfied shoppers also report being far more likely to return
to the site, recommend it and stay loyal to the brand. Furthermore,
analysis of top e-retailers in the United States has shown that, on
average, a one-point change in website satisfaction was found to
predict a 14% change in the log of revenues generated on the
web."
How do these results compare to a company's stock
performance?
Shares of Apple have declined more than 24 percent over the last
three months. JCPenney.com (NYSE:
JCP
), which dropped five points on the index, lost more than 15
percent of its value during the same period.
BestBuy.com (NYSE:
BBY
) and Macys.com (NYSE:
M
) were also victims of index ratings declines. Both firms dropped
by one point. Investors were even less impressed with these firms,
particularly Best Buy, which has lost more than 34 percent of its
value since September 27. Macy's has only declined by one percent
since that time.
Customer satisfaction is not always indicative of a company's
performance, however. While Netflix gained more than 63 percent
over the last three months (corresponding with its index rating
increase), Amazon -- the number-one company on the list -- lost
three percent of its value.
More often than not, however, a decline in customer satisfaction
can provide a hint about a company is performing. Walmart.com
(NYSE:
WMT
), for example, dropped one point on the index. Its stock has
declined more than eight percent over the last three months.
Follow me
@LouisBedigianBZ
(c) 2012 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice.
All rights reserved.
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