Dell.com, HPShopping.com, and TigerDirect have all moved ahead of Apple in an online retail customer satisfaction survey. Apple, which ranked #1 in the 2008 edition of ForeSee Results' "Top 100 Online Retail Satisfaction Index - Computers & Electronics," slipped to #5 in the Spring 2009 survey -- #1 Newegg.com was tied with Apple in the previous survey.
As the name suggests, the survey is intended to measure user satisfaction at online Web sites, including retail sites, and even the IRS. Apple's score of 75% was just two points higher than the IRS's score of 73%, and was 6.3 percentage points below last year's score of 80% (after the scores are rounded).
Many of this year's survey subjects saw declines, too, though none so precipitous as Apple, to whom the survey referred to as "perennial ACSI darling" due Apple's past consistency in being at or near the top of this survey. TigerDirect.com, HPShopping.com, and Dell.com all declined by one percentage point, but it was enough for them to move past Apple in the rankings. #1 Newegg.com gained a point in the survey.
ForeSee Results chart
The survey uses the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) methodology. The data is compiled from interviews with people who ForeSee calls browsers of the Web sites that are subject to the survey. Companies in the survey were chosen according to sales volume.
In ForeSee's 2009 survey, the firm found that the average rating for entire electronics sector was 74, which the survey characterized as providing, "an average online experience."