Customers are less satisfied with online retailers, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The score for ecommerce fell 2 percent to 80. Online retail declined 1.2 percent to 82, driven mostly by drops for Amazon and eBay. But while Amazon's satisfaction rate dropped, it was the second highest scoring company in the index.

According to Tuesday's release about the ecommerce sector, With a small dip, Amazon (-2% to 86) remains the second highest scoring firm of all companies in this release. The situation for e-Bay is different. Its ACSI score slumps 4 percent to 78, an all-time low. Revenues fell 7 percent in the fourth quarter, marking eBay's first ever negative year-on-year quarter, and its stock price lost almost 60% in 2008. Newegg leads the online retail category with a score of 88. The computer hardware and software retailer has done well offering consistently high quality service and quick response time.

While satisfaction with ecommerce declined 2 percent, customer satisfaction with the retail sector gained 1.3 percent to 75.2. The retail sector includes department and discount stores, specialty retail stores, supermarkets, gas stations, and health and personal care stores.

The Index is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the United States. It is produced by the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business in partnership with the American Society for Quality and CFI Group and is updated quarterly.

Professor Claes Fornell, head of the ACSI and author of The Satisfied Customer: Winners and Losers in the Battle for Buyer Preference, warned, "Cost-cutting that adversely impacts customer satisfaction isn't a cure. It may provide short term earnings relief, but having dissatisfied customers take their business elsewhere is making the problem worse."

http://www.theacsi.org