Tops with Consumers: L.L. Bean

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 1/28/2008 12:00:00 AM

New York —

Direct-to-consumer outdoor lifestyle retailer L.L. Bean took top honors in the third annual NRF Foundation/American Express Customer Service Survey, which measures shopper satisfaction across all retail formats.

The survey of 8,800 consumers conducted by BIGresearch found internet-only retailers in top spots on the list, with Zappos.com coming in second, Amazon.com third, Overstock.com fourth and Newegg.com 10th.

Other retailers on the list operate websites and physical stores or catalogs, with multichannel retailers Blair (No.5), Lands' End (No.6), Coldwater Creek (No.7), Nordstrom (No.8) and Lane Bryant (No.9) rounding out the top 10, the survey found.

L.L. Bean moved up from third place in 2006 to secure the number one spot this year.

In terms of customer service, shoppers said they expect the most from restaurants and specialty stores – which both rated 4.4 out of 5.0. Customers also have high expectations of department stores (4.1), drug stores (4.0), grocery (3.9), internet retailers (3.8) and membership warehouse clubs (3.7). Shoppers say they expect the least service from discounters, with a ranking of 3.4.