Trending – New School of Prepaid Carriers Offer Great Deals — With Drawbacks
New Dates - D: Dive Into Mobile - Register Now »Follow All Things D on Twitter »HBO, Sony, Google - D: Dive Into Media - Register Now »Get the Daily Newsletter »D: Dive Into Mobile - Register Now »Like All Things D on Facebook »Follow D: Dive Into Mobile Conference #dmobileFollow D: Dive Into Media Conference #dmedia
John Paczkowskiethics statementbioe-mailRSSFollow @JohnPaczkowskiRecent Posts by John Paczkowski
Apple Falls to Four-Year Low in Online Customer Satisfaction SurveyDecember 27, 2012 at 4:34 am PTTweetSharePrint
The post-Ron Johnson era did not begin well for Apple. Earlier this year, the company ousted Johnson’s successor, John Browett, as head of its retail operations following a series of rare and embarrassing cockups. Initially, those missteps appeared to be largely operational, fomenting unrest and criticism among Apple Store employees: Freezing hiring and other moves intended to scale back payroll expenses, deferring facilities repairs. But new research from analytics firm ForeSee suggest that Browett’s brief tenure at Apple may have had some negative effects on the customer-facing side of its retail operations as well. Could that really be the case?
According to ForeSee’s annual Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction Index, compiled from 24,000 customer surveys gathered between Thanksgiving and Christmas, customer satisfaction with Apple’s online store slipped three points this year, falling to 80 from the 83 points it captured in 2011. That decline was among the biggest Foresee charted this year, and it left Apple with its lowest score on the firm’s consumer satisfaction index in four years. (Ironically, J.C. Penney — where Ron Johnson is now CEO — was another of Foresee’s big decliners this holiday season).
Why the sudden drop? There’s no simple explanation, though it’s easy enough to lay the blame on Browett. Following his tenure, the company not only forfeited its second place ranking on the Foresee index, but fell out of the top five as well. Sure, the decline was measured after his ouster, but not so far after that he doesn’t bear some responsibility. That said, there are obviously other factors at work here as well.
ForeSee’s surveys measure four elements of customer satisfaction: Merchandise appeal, competitiveness of price, Web site functionality and Web site content. Clearly, not all of those elements were under Browett’s control. And it’s not evident where, exactly, Apple suffered declines. ForeSee says only that “Web site functionality” is a top priority for improvement at Apple. It’s worth noting, though, that that functionality isn’t so different from what it was last year, when Apple placed in ForeSee’s top five.
Keeping that in mind — and our perceptions of price and product appeal, as well — Apple’s diminished customer satisfaction score seems more the result of consumer caprice than anything else. Have the company’s prices and the appeal of its products really changed that drastically from 2011 when it scored higher on the ForeSee index?
“The luster of Apple is fading a bit,” Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee told AllThingsD. “Keeping up with consumer’s rising expectations of the online customer experience is no easy task, but not keeping up can lead to decline in loyalty, word of mouth and revenue growth. In particular, even though Apple gets top dollar for their products, price is an area weakness for the company when it comes to satisfaction. Apple’s site might be due for some changes, and the usefulness, convenience and variety of features on the site presents the biggest opportunity for Apple to improve the customer experience.”
Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
RIM Takes a Bath on NewBay Sale
December 27, 2012 at 3:34 pm PT
Windows Phone Marketplace Put on Some Weight in 2012
December 27, 2012 at 1:25 pm PT
Rumor Mill Adds Mac Mini to Apple’s “Made in USA” Plans
December 27, 2012 at 10:13 am PT
Apple’s Inroads in the Office Are Starting to Add Up
December 13, 2012 at 5:01 am PT
Latest VideoView all videos »
api-video/find_all_videos.asp&fields=id,videoStillURL,thumbnailURL,guid,video320kMP4Url,name,duration&count=4&doctype=128Search » Featured PostsFeatured Reviews
The Story of Dropcam, a Little Hardware Start-Up With Its Head in the Cloud (Video)Liz Gannes in NewsApple Falls to Four-Year Low in Online Customer Satisfaction SurveyJohn Paczkowski in News
Yahoo’s Mayer Hoping What Happens With Big Advertisers at CES Doesn’t Stay in VegasKara Swisher in MediaView all today’s news »
From Google, the Toughest Challenger to the iPadWalt Mossberg in Personal Technology
Apple Unleashes Its New Mountain Lion SystemKatherine Boehret in The Digital Solution
Is Hotmail Hotter Now That It’s Outlook.com?Katherine Boehret in The Digital Solution
Many Devices, Many Files and Four Ways to Share ThemWalt Mossberg in Personal Technology
Help Wanted: Moonlighters for Mobile AppsKatherine Boehret in The Digital SolutionView all reviews »
If your Twitter “uptime” is over one year, I strongly encourage you to try taking an extended break, just to reimagine what your life looks like without it.— Adam Brault, in a blog post entitled “I quit Twitter for a month and it completely changed my thinking about mostly everything” AllThingsD by WriterWalt MossbergKara SwisherJohn PaczkowskiKatherine BoehretPeter KafkaIna FriedLiz GannesTricia DuryeeArik HesseldahlLauren GoodeMike IsaacBonnie Cha All Things Digital
AllThingsD.com is a Web site devoted to news, analysis and opinion on technology, the Internet and media. But it is different from other sites in this space. It is a fusion of different media styles, different topics, different formats and different sources. Read more »
About Us » Contact Us » Register to Comment » Comments Policy » FAQ » Terms of Service » Privacy Policy - UPDATED 10/18/2011 » Your Ad Choices » Cookies Policy » Advertise With Us » Send a Tip » Daily Newsletter » Subscribe to more AllThingsD content »
Featuring the most influential figures in technology, unscripted
and upfront. More »
Select Account
@allthingsd (All Things Digital)@ATDacquisitions (Acquisitions)@ATDapple (Apple)@ATDenterprise (Enterprise)@ATDgoogle (Google) @ATDmedia (Media)@ATDmobile (Mobile)@ATDmoney (Money and Commerce)@ATDmoves (Industry Moves)@ATDmsft (Microsoft) @ATDreviews (Reviews)@ATDsocial (Social)@ATDstartups (Startups)@ATDveecees (Venture Capital)@ATDvoices (Voices) @waltmossberg (Walt Mossberg)@@karaswisher (Kara Swisher)@JohnPaczkowski (John Paczkowski)@kabster728 (Katherine Boehret)@pkafka (Peter Kafka)@inafried (Ina Fried)@LizGannes (Liz Gannes)@triciad (Tricia Duryee)@ahess247 (Arik Hesseldahl)@LaurenGoode (Lauren Goode)@MikeIsaac (Mike Isaac)@BonnieSCha (Bonnie Cha) A single RSS feed of all ATD Writers’ Twitter accounts RSS FeedsSelect Feed
All Feeds News Reviews Mobile Media Social Enterprise Commerce Voices Personal Technology Mossberg’s Mailbox The Digital Solution Walt MossbergKara SwisherJohn PaczkowskiKatherine BoehretPeter KafkaIna FriedLiz GannesTricia DuryeeArik HesseldahlLauren GoodeMike IsaacBonnie Cha © 2005-2012 Dow Jones & Company Inc.All Rights Reserved.Powered by WordPress.com VIP Mobile Version
Written by Dilusha
We are Creative Blogger Theme Wavers which provides user friendly, effective and easy to use themes. Each support has free and providing HD support screen casting.
0 comments:
Post a Comment