By George Anderson
J.D. Power and Associates has announced that Kohl's and Wal-Mart were given the highest customer satisfaction ratings for moderately priced and discount department stores in its newly released, 2002 Department Store Customer Satisfaction Study.
Results from the study come from an analysis of 2,100 telephone interviews done across a representative sample of U.S. households. To be included, respondents needed to be the primary adult department store shopper. They also had to have shopped in the surveyed store in the previous two months.
Consumers rated retailers in each group for:
- Value
- Sales and service associates
- Services
- Store environment
- Merchandise
- Reputation
- Sales and promotion
- Store location.
Moderator's Comment: What is your takeaway from the J.D. Power and Associates' 2002 Department Store Customer Satisfaction Study?
Curt Carlson, director of custom research at J.D. Power analysis is, "Department stores have a lot riding on retail sales in this sluggish economy and continue to rely on sales and promotions in the battle to attract customers. However, customers are saying that it takes more than good prices to make them happy. The stores that are providing value in the context of a highly satisfying shopping experience are winning the war for customer loyalty." [George Anderson - Moderator]