The E-tailing Group picks its Top 10 e-retailers in customer service
Chicago consultants The E-Tailing Group Inc. has named its top 10 retail web sites for customer service. The E-Tailing Group surveyed 100 top sites during the first quarter and measured their performance on the basis of time to shop, number of clicks to check out, number of business days to receive merchandise, time to answer e-mail inquiry, and number of days to receive credit.
The E-Tailing Group’s Top 10 are:
|
Merchant
|
Time to
shop (in minutes)
|
# Clicks
to Check Out
|
# Business
Days to Receive Item
|
#Hours:Minutes
to Answer E-mail
|
# Days
to Receive Credit
|
| Amazon.com |
4
|
3
|
4
|
6:46
|
10
|
| Bluelight.com |
7
|
6
|
3
|
1:26
|
21
|
| CDNow |
7
|
6
|
4
|
23:22
|
14
|
| Drugstore.com |
4
|
4
|
4
|
3:42
|
1
|
| JC Penney |
6
|
6
|
5
|
25:06:00
|
15
|
| KB Toys |
5
|
6
|
5
|
3:22
|
16
|
| Lands’ End |
4
|
5
|
3
|
2:03
|
6
|
| Nordstrom’s |
5
|
5
|
4
|
:41
|
4
|
| Smith & Hawken |
3
|
6
|
5
|
5:03
|
12
|
| Sports Authority |
4
|
5
|
4
|
25:07:00
|
10
|
| Average of 100 Sites Shopped |
5.3
|
5.36
|
3.8
|
21.08
|
11.9
|
"Exemplary customer service is critical to sustain successful e-commerce.
These 10 sites set today’s standards for excellence in online customer
service," said Lauren Freedman, president of The E-Tailing Group.
The E-Tailing Group mystery shopped 100 online merchants in 16 consumer categories
during the 4th Quarter 2001 peak selling period.
Researchers used the followong criteria:
- Order Process/Checkout: 6 or fewer clicks to checkout
- Customer Service Information: 800 number and customer service hours
visibly displayed
- Gift Centric: offer gift center, gift suggestions and gift-wrap or
messaging
- Inventory/Backorders: real-time inventory in shopping cart or product
page; online shipping status
- Order Confirmation: order confirmation number in shopping cart, post
order targeted e-mail, follow-up shipping confirmation e-mail, with order
number included
- Receipt of Goods: five or fewer days to receive package
- E-mail Communication: answer e-mail questions within 25 hours on
1st attempt
Sites received bonus points for the following:
- Live chat
- International shipping destinations
- Relevant up-sells
- Pre-orders
- Free shipping/Conditional free shipping
- Enhanced merchandising in e-mail communications
The rankings were the result of research that The E-Tailing Group performed
for the Direct Marketing Association’s report Merchandising Scan and Mystery
Shopping/State of Customer Service Online.
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