Top retailers named by American Customer Satisfaction Index

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Is there something in the water in Seattle that creates great customer service? Three retailers from the Pacific Northwest make strong showings in the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) tally.

In the word of Internet retailing, Amazon continues its reign at the top, where it’s been since 2000. And when it comes to traditional retailing, both Nordstrom and Costco Wholesale are neck and neck as the best brick-and-mortar retailers.

There must be something in the culture up there that all three Washington State-based companies — in addition to Starbucks — really focus on customer service!

Who’s not doing well in retail? Wal-Mart. The mega-retailer is in last place in both the supermarket and retail categories. And while Wal-Mart just reported their latest drop in earnings, they’re still a huge profit machine with earnings of $5 billion in three months.

Speaking of supermarkets, the top supermarket is the country is regional chain Publix, followed by national chain Whole Foods.

Now, here’s a quick look at other sectors examined in the latest ACSI.

When it comes to stock brokerages, Schwab, E-Trade, Fidelity and TD Ameritrade were all neck and neck. So how do you decide among the four discounters? Pick by the services or by which one offers you the greatest convenience. You can even do your banking with the discount stock brokerages, and they all score much higher for customer satisfaction than the big banks!

Finally, when it comes to drugstores, CVS, Rite-Aid and Walgreens are equally hated versus independent, regional or local drugstore chains. Not to mention the Big 3 of the drugstore world are routinely among the most expensive places to shop for groceries.

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