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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Consumer satisfaction with the retail experience declined for the second consecutive year in 2015, according to American Customer Satisfaction Index LLC (ACSI). The management consulting company maintains a barometer called the American Customer Satisfaction Index, measuring customer satisfaction on a 100-point scale, with 100 as the highest possible score.
Last year’s 2.6% slide put Americans’ satisfaction level at 74.8, which the company says is essentially the index’s long-term average.
Five of the six retail categories covered by ACSI experienced a decline last year. The exception was gas stations, which ACSI said benefited from lower pump prices.
Wegmans Food Markets Inc. was one of three retailers to improve its ACSI position in 2015, gaining 1% to 86, according to an ACSI statement. Other top-scoring supermarkets were Trader Joe’s Co. (83), H-E-B (82) and Publix Super Markets Inc. (82). On the low end of supermarket rankings, Albertsons Cos. received a 68 while Walmart came in at 67. ACSI said Target Corp. had the biggest decline among supermarkets, falling 12% to 71. Whole Foods Market Inc. declined 10% to 73.
“When consumers put a premium on service and quality, smaller companies often achieve higher customer satisfaction scores, and it’s the smaller, independent chains that continue to set the bar for supermarkets,” said David VanAmburg, ACSI’s managing director.
Overall, supermarkets declined 3.9 points to 73, hitting their lowest point in more than a decade after what ACSI referred to as “several years of pretty high customer satisfaction.”
With a customer satisfaction score of 81, Costco Wholesale Corp. had the highest rating among ACSI’s specialty retailers.
Dollar Tree Inc. had the highest customer satisfaction score among dollar stores, at 76. Dollar General Corp. was at 74.
Health and personal care stores notched the largest decline in the ACSI customer satisfaction ratings for 2015, falling 5.2% to a record low of 73. Walmart’s drug stores had the lowest rating, at 68. ACSI said Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. fell 4% to 74, while Rite Aid Corp. tumbled 12% to 69.
“Customer satisfaction with retail has been higher than its historical norm over the past few years as the economy slowly emerged from the Great Recession,” said Claes Fornell, ACSI’s founder and chairman. “This was because it was a tough environment to compete in. Job security for customer service personnel was hard to come by, and everybody was trying harder to please customers.
“As both job security and employee turnover have increased, the level of customer service seems to have worsened.”