Amazon Rates High for Satisfaction; Netflix Records Biggest Decline

• Tweet
• Buffer

Of the top Internet retailers, Amazon ranked the highest for customer satisfaction during the 2011 holiday shopping season, according to ForeSee Results' annual survey. Netflix recorded the largest rating drop compared to last year.

ForeSee CEO Larry Freed said Netflix was hurt by its plan to raise prices by 60 percent and split up its DVD and streaming services. "Netflix totally misread its customer base and is paying the price, damaging its brand among both consumers and investors," Freed said in a statement. Netflix abandoned the plan to create two companies, but maintained the price increase.

ForeSee's index, based on a 100-point scale, represents the results of its customer surveys measuring satisfaction on the 38 largest retail sites.

Amazon scored No. 1 at 88 points; it was followed by Avon and JC Penney (83 points each). In contrast, Netflix (No. 32) had 79 points, a seven-point drop compared to 2010's shopping season.

"Amazon may have started as an online bookstore, but it now competes in almost every significant retail category and it is setting the bar very high for any company selling online," Freed said.

Retailers at the bottom of the index were: Overstock.com (No. 38), Gap.com (No. 37); Sony Store (No. 36); Buy.com (No. 35), and ToysRUs (No. 34).

BestBuy.com's problems fulfilling online customer orders this month apparently didn't affect its score. Ranked at No. 22 in the index, it received 79 points out of 100 – an increase of two points compared to last year, according to ForeSee.

And JC Penney may have benefited from the appointment of Ron Johnson as CEO; he's former head of Apple's retail operations. JC Penney saw the biggest increase in the index, going from 78 to 83 points.

The ForeSee report is based on more than 8,500 responses from visitors to the 38 largest retail websites based on Internet Retailer's Top 500 Guide.

Here are the 10 sites that ranked the highest in the ForeSee index.