Retail/Specialty Retail Firms Show Slight Gains in How They Treat Online Customers: The Customer Respect Group Summer 2003 Study

Business Wire,  Sept 19, 2003  

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Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 19, 2003

Significant Improvements Seen in Responsiveness Since Winter 2003;

Lowe's, The Gap, Target, Circuit City Show Highest Overall Customer

Respect

The Customer Respect Group, an international research and consulting firm that focuses on how corporations treat their customers online, today released the results of its Summer 2003 Online Customer Respect Study of retail and specialty retail firms that rank among the country's largest 500 companies.

Overall, Lowe's Companies, The Gap, Target Corporation and Circuit City Stores scored highest in Customer Respect, while Hughes Supply scored lowest.

The study is the only to bring objective measure to the analysis of corporate performance from an online customer's perspective. It assigns a Customer Respect Index (CRI(TM)) to each company. The Customer Respect Index is a qualitative and quantitative in-depth analysis and independent measure of a customer's online experience when interacting with companies via the Internet.

Comparisons

The sector was last surveyed in the Winter 2003 Online Customer Respect Study. Among the trends: The overall CRI rose from 6.8 to 7.2. The biggest improvement was in Responsiveness. Specialty retailers showed a significant improvement in Responsiveness, going from a CRI of 5.5 to 7.7. Retailers moved from 5.7 to 6.7. Still, fully one-quarter of firms in this sector don't respond to online inquiries (down from more than one-third in the Winter survey. In addition, within the sector, specialty retailers did better in providing clear explanations for how they use personal data, respond more quickly to online inquiries and display a more customer-focused attitude.

"Overall, we're pleased to see higher scores, particularly in the area of Responsiveness," said Terri McNulty, CEO of The Customer Respect Group. "By our next report, we'd like to see the unresponsiveness rate to online inquiries dip even further. In addition, both Retailers and Specialty Retailers need to pay more attention to how they use personal data and provide online customers with better and easier control over their information. With the holiday season approaching, the stakes are simply too high to ignore customers' online experiences."

By looking at more than 1000 Web sites across a spectrum of industries in detail, The Customer Respect Group has determined 25 different attributes that combine to create the entire online customer experience. These attributes have been grouped together and measured as indicators of Privacy (respects customer privacy), Principles (values and respects customer data), Attitude (customer-focus of site), Transparency (open and honest policies), Simplicity (ease of navigation), and Responsiveness (quick and thorough responses to inquiries). Combined they measure a company's overall Customer Respect.

The highest ranked organizations within the sector were Lowe's Companies, The Gap, Target Corporation and Circuit City Stores (CRI: 9.0 out of 10), while the lowest was Hughes Supply (CRI: 2.9). Beyond these scores, the report conveys in great detail improvement opportunities for each company. The sector's Summer 2003 ranking is as follows:

Company Name                            Overall

Lowe's Companies, Inc.                    9.0
The Gap, Inc.                             9.0
Target Corporation                        9.0
Circuit City Stores, Inc.                 9.0
Foot Locker, Inc.                         8.9
CVS Corporation                           8.9
Walgreen Co.                              8.9
Federated Department Stores, Inc.         8.8
J.C. Penney Company, Inc.                 8.7
Albertson's, Inc.                         8.7
Costco Wholesale Corporation              8.6
RadioShack Corporation                    8.6
Barnes & Noble Inc.                       8.6
Rite Aid Corporation                      8.5
Staples, Inc.                             8.5
Amazon.Com Inc.                           8.5
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.                     8.4
Dillard's Inc.                            8.4
The TJX Companies, Inc.                   8.4
Limited Brands, Inc.                      8.3
OfficeMax, Inc.                           8.2
W.W. Grainger, Inc.                       8.2
The Neiman Marcus Group, Inc.             8.0
The Home Depot, Inc.                      7.9
Sears Roebuck and Company                 7.8
Fisher Scientific International Inc.      7.7
Toys R Us, Inc.                           7.7
Kmart Corporation                         7.6
Office Depot, Inc.                        7.6
Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc.                   7.6
Publix Super Markets, Inc.                7.5
BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc.                 7.5
Advance Auto Parts, Inc.                  7.1
Dollar General Corporation                6.9
Best Buy Co. Inc.                         6.4
Safeway Inc.                              6.4
Longs Drug Stores Corporation             6.4
Kohl's Corporation                        6.3
The Kroger Company                        6.2
Big Lots, Inc.                            6.0
Pathmark Stores, Inc.                     6.0
Ace Hardware                              5.9
Nordstrom, Inc.                           5.7
Ross Stores, Inc.                         5.6
ShopKo Stores, Inc.                       5.4
Borders Group, Inc.                       5.3
Saks, Incorporated                        4.9
Family Dollar Stores, Inc.                4.7
AutoZone, Inc.                            4.0
Wesco International, Inc.                 3.6
Genuine Parts Company                     3.4
The May Department Stores Company         3.4
Hughes Supply, Inc.                       2.9

Industry Average                          7.2