Annual ForeSee Experience Index Measures Consumer Trends and Customer Experience From Top 50 U.S. and Top 25 U.K. Retailers

ANN ARBOR, MI--(Marketwired - Dec 17, 2015) - ForeSee, the leader in Voice of Customer (VOC) solutions, today releases key insights in its 11th annual ForeSee Experience Index (FXI) 2015 Retail Edition. The index, based on more than 40,000 consumer surveys gathered from the top 50 U.S. and 25 U.K. retailers, addresses the retail customer experience across web, mobile, and in stores over the course of the holiday shopping season.

The ForeSee Experience Index examines the drivers and inhibitors of digital and in-store customer experience, then translates those findings into actionable insights for retailers. Companies analyzed in this year's survey include Amazon.com, Apple, Best Buy, Costco, CVS, Dell, Etsy, Gap, The Home Depot, Netflix, Neiman Marcus, Nike, Nordstrom, REI, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart, among others.

"Today's shopping experiences are more complex and nuanced than they were five, ten years ago," said Eric Feinberg, VP of Marketing at ForeSee. "This year's FXI results show that it's time for retailers to stop talking omnichannel, while acting single channel. The future of retail will be in continuously measuring the contribution that one experience has on the next so retailers can tune the multi-channel experience."

KEY FINDINGS FROM THE FXI 2015 REPORT:

• Website satisfaction is up while mobile and store satisfaction stagnates - Brick-and-mortar satisfaction continues to stall along with sales despite Black Friday starting earlier than ever. Web customer satisfaction scores 79 (on a 100-point scale) this year, up two points from 77 in 2014. Store and mobile are at 78 and 79 respectively.
• Amazon is climbing back up - In 2014, Amazon dropped a whopping five points from a customer satisfaction score of 88 points (on a 100-point scale) to 83. This year, they are climbing back up, slowly but surely, to 86, which is where they were in 2010. While Amazon lost focus before, they now lead -- again -- by a statistically significant margin.
• Web shoppers are more likely to interact with retailers across multiple channels - 41% of customers who buy online have also stopped into a store location in the past 3 months. That's compared to 31% of store shoppers who subsequently visit the store online.
• Price ranks as the highest priority element for web, mobile and in-store - price jumped to become the highest priority element for consumers, with 89% in web, 67% mobile, and 62% in-store -- ahead of merchandise.
• Holiday shoppers are open to drone delivery - 39% of web and mobile shoppers would select drone delivery as a shipping option if available.
• In-store mobile payment still has a way to go in the U.S. but it's getting there - American consumers aren't sold on mobile payments yet but the tide may be changing. In 2015, 28% say they're open to using mobile payment, compared with 21% last year, with security seen as the primary mobile detractor.

Since 2005, ForeSee has produced the annual ForeSee Experience Index to quantify customer experience and rank retailers on a 100-point scale during the critical holiday shopping season. While there are many sources that offer metrics related to holiday sales or traffic, ForeSee provides scientifically sourced insights that illuminate the "why" behind those numbers.

Download the ForeSee Experience Index (FXI) 2015 Retail Edition here.

About ForeSee
Founded in 2001, ForeSee is the pioneering leader in Voice of Customer (VOC) solutions. ForeSee helps companies and public sector organizations deliver a successful omnichannel experience for their customers and make more informed decisions about how to grow their businesses. Powered by its patented scientific methodology, ForeSee's solutions combine cloud-based customer experience analytics software with actionable insights provided by a team of more than 100 analysts. The company has 650 customers in industries such as retail, financial services, healthcare, consumer packaged goods, and government. ForeSee, a subsidiary of Answers Corporation, is headquartered in Ann Arbor, MI and has offices in Washington, D.C., Mountain View, New York, St. Louis, Vancouver, and London. For more information, visit www.foresee.com.