Customer satisfaction with retail websites for the week following the Thanksgiving weekend was on par with satisfaction on Cyber Monday, according to a recently published holiday benchmark study by ForeSee Results.
Satisfaction, at 73.1 on a 100-point scale for that week, was only slightly lower than the week before Thanksgiving (73.5).
Though little had changed week-on-week, the satisfaction score was 3% lower than the same time in 2008, and did not bode well for a retail industry hoping to regain its footing during the holiday shopping season.
According to Larry Freed, president and CEO for ForeSee Results, "ComScore released numbers citing a 4% increase in spending over 2008. For an industry accustomed to double digit increases in revenue year over year, this is disappointing. With satisfaction lower than it was in 2008, online retail will be challenged to get spending to exceed the 4% growth predicted by ComScore."
Satisfaction may have been lower because customer expectations are continuing to rise, and larger retailers are setting the pace. According to ComScore, larger retailers are increasing market share and account for 64% of all online spending.
"Standing still is not a winning strategy for e-commerce, and rising customer expectations put a lot of pressure on retailers that have chosen not to continually invest in improvements to their online customer experience," concluded Kevin Ertell, ForeSee Results vice president of retail strategy.
|
More Info: |
