19 February 2008

E-commerce satisfaction soars with exception of travel

Customer satisfaction with the e-commerce sector hits an all-time high, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), but the online travel industry fell for a second straight year.

The study was released by the University of Michigan with e-commerce partner ForeSee Results.

E-commerce in aggregate rises to a score of 81.6 on the ACSI's 100-point scale, a significant 2% jump from 2006. The e-commerce sector now outperforms all other service industries measured by the ACSI, according to the poll.

'The improvement in e-commerce is impressive, given the downward trend in the national ACSI,' said Claes Fornell, head of the ACSI at the University of Michigan and author of The Satisfied Customer.

'Against a backdrop of weakening consumer spending and talk about recession, e-commerce will continue to be a bright spot for multichannel companies,' said Larry Freed, an online customer satisfaction expert and president and CEO of ForeSee Results.

The ACSI E-Commerce Report, which is a part of the ACSI's fourth quarter report, measures customer satisfaction with online retail, online brokerage and online travel companies.

The online travel industry fell again, dropping 1.3% to 75. The three major online travel sites all suffered drops in satisfaction. Expedia remains the highest-scoring company, but its score plummeted 3.8% to 75. Travelocity and Orbitz both dropped to 73, as the three companies continue to have difficulty differentiating their services, according to the study.

'For the last 10 years, the technology that online travel aggregators use has essentially remained unchanged, but competition continues to innovate,' said Mr Freed. 'Standing still is not an option. As the smaller players change the game, satisfaction with the big players will decline if they just tread water.'

Report by David Wilkening