GSI Commerce Beats Industry Benchmarks for E-Commerce Customer Satisfaction

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., April 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GSI Commerce Inc. , a leading provider of e-commerce and multichannel solutions, today announced that online retail sites powered by its technology platform exceeded industry wide customer satisfaction benchmarks from ForeSee Results, a leading customer satisfaction measurement and analysis firm. According to ForeSee Results, which uses the scientifically proven methodology of the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), GSI partner Web stores included in the analysis outperformed benchmark metrics in areas including:

1. Overall satisfaction -- how satisfied shoppers were and whether the Web store met expectations
2. Look and feel -- visual appeal, amount of graphics and text, and ease of reading the pages
3. Search capabilities -- relevance, helpfulness and organization of search results
4. Navigation -- site organization, site layout and options for navigation

The measured sites also surpassed e-retail benchmarks when Web store visitors were surveyed about their future behaviors. The results indicated that shoppers on a GSI partner Web store were more likely to recommend that particular online store and make purchases from the company through offline channels.

"We are proud that a number of GSI partners' e-commerce stores outperformed the industry in critical customer satisfaction areas. We work very closely with our partners to ensure that their stores offer a rewarding customer experience," said Fiona Dias, executive vice president of partner strategy & marketing for GSI. "ForeSee Results' surveys and analyses provide tremendous value in the form of summarized, actionable data about the online shopping experience. This type of information empowers our partners to make informed decisions to better serve their customers, enhance their Web stores and strengthen their brands."

Customer satisfaction ratings for the GSI partner Web stores that were included in the report were the result of more than 30,000 surveys submitted in December 2007. While browsing an online store, customers were randomly prompted to answer questions and rate their experiences on a one-to-10 scale. ForeSee Results then analyzed the data to show how GSI partners' online stores scored compared to the broader industry sampling. To compile the industry benchmark, ForeSee Results included the results of surveys from more than 65 leading e-commerce Web sites.

"Our e-retail benchmark shows that customer satisfaction for e-commerce sites is now higher than any other industry that we measure. For GSI partner stores to top these benchmarks in six significant areas is quite impressive and speaks to GSI's ability to help their partners create a customer-centric experience," said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results.