Sam's Club and Amazon.com Earn Top Customer Experience Ratings for Retailers, According to Temkin Group

WABAN, Mass., March 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sam's Club and Amazon.com deliver the best customer experience in the retail industry, according to the 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual ranking of companies based on a study of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

Sam's Club and Amazon.com continue their reign as the highest-rated retailers for the third straight year, each earning an "excellent" rating. Sam's Club narrowly beat out Amazon.com for the top spot, receiving an 81% rating and an overall rank of 8^th out of 268 companies across 19 industries. With ratings of 79% each, Costco, PetSmart, Ace Hardware, and BJ's Wholesale Club also earned high marks from customers. At the other end of the spectrum, RadioShack and Foot Locker tied for last place among 45 retailers. This is the fourth straight year that RadioShack has been at the bottom of the industry.

"Sam's Club and Amazon.com continue to set the standard in retail customer experience," states Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Temkin Group.

Here are some additional findings from the retail industry:

• The top 10 retailers in the 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings are Sam's Club (81%), Amazon.com (80%), Costco (79%), PetSmart (79%), Ace Hardware (79%), BJ's Wholesale Club (79%), Lowe's (78%), Dollar Tree (78%), Barnes & Noble (77%), and Home Depot (77%)
• The bottom 10 retailers are Wal-Mart (69%), Macy's (68%), Toys 'R' Us (68%), Sears (67%), Kmart (67%), Apple Store (67%), GameStop (66%), Gap (64%), Foot Locker (62%), and Radio Shack (60%).
• Lowe's (+6 points), T.J. Maxx (+6 points), Best Buy (+6 points), and the Apple Store (+5 points) improved the most between 2013 and 2014.
• Sears (-7 points), Nordstrom (-5 points), Staples (-5 points), Office Depot (-5 points), Dollar General (-5 points), Toys 'R' Us (-5 points), Kmart (-5 points), and GameStop (-5 points) declined the most between 2013 and 2014.
• The retail industry averaged a 73% rating in the 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings and tied for 3^rd place out of 19 industries. Retail was one of only four industries to decline in the ratings since last year, decreasing its average by 1.0 percentage point.

Now in its fourth year of publication, the 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings examines the quality of the customer experience delivered by 268 organizations across 19 industries: airlines, appliance makers, auto dealers, banks, car rental agencies, computer makers, credit card issuers, fast food chains, grocery chains, health plans, hotel chains, insurance carriers, Internet service providers, investment firms, parcel delivery services, retailers, software firms, TV service providers, and wireless carriers.

To generate these ratings, Temkin Group asked consumers to evaluate their experiences with a company across three dimensions: functional (can you do what you want to do?), accessible (how easy is it to work with the company?), and emotional (how do you feel about the interactions?). Temkin Group then averaged these three scores to produce a company's Temkin Experience Rating.

In these ratings, a score of 70% or above is considered "good," and a score of 80% or above is considered "excellent."

The 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings, along with other ratings, can be accessed at the Temkin Ratings website, www.TemkinRatings.com.

The free report "2014 Temkin Experience Ratings" is available for download at the Customer Experience Matters^® blog (ExperienceMatters.wordpress.com) and at the Temkin Group website, www.TemkinGroup.com.

About Temkin Group: Temkin Group is widely recognized as a leading customer experience research and consulting firm. Many of the world's largest brands rely on its insights and advice to steer their transformational journeys, and Temkin Group accelerates their results by combining customer experience thought leadership with a deep understanding of organizational dynamics. Rather than layering on cosmetic changes, Temkin Group helps companies embed practices within their culture by building four critical competencies: Purposeful Leadership, Employee Engagement, Compelling Brand Values, and Customer Connectedness. The firm's ongoing research identifies leading and emerging best practices for engaging the hearts and minds of customers, employees, and partners. For more information, contact Bruce Temkin at 617-916-2075 or send an email.

*Customer experience matters is a registered trademark of Temkin Group.

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SOURCE Temkin Group