For nearly thirty years, the obsession with customers has defined Amazon. But recent data shows that customer enthusiasm for the largest online retailer in the US is waning.
The number of Amazon customers who said they were “extremely satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the company decreased, reaching 79% in 2022, according to the investment company Evercore ISI. This figure reached a low of 65% in 2020 during the pandemic but remains low compared to a peak of 88% almost a decade ago, the study shows.
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Last year, the level of consumer satisfaction with Amazon fell to a low in the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, which tracks buyer satisfaction at more than 400 of the largest US companies.
Amazon received a score of 78 out of 100, compared to 86 out of 100 five years earlier, the company’s worst performance since 2000 – the year the index began tracking the Seattle-based company. In 2020 and 2021, Amazon lagged behind shopping sites Costco Wholesale and Nordstrom.
The consulting company Brooks Bell conducted a survey earlier this year among 1,000 Amazon customers and found that almost a third of them routinely reported receiving products late or receiving products of poor quality. This was the first time the company conducted the study.
Still the biggest seller in the US
Amazon remains the largest seller in the US by a considerable margin, with a loyal base of more than 200 million customers worldwide who pay for Prime subscriptions, which offer them fast delivery and access to the Amazon Prime video streaming service, as well as discounts at Whole Foods Market and other benefits.
The company still sets the standard in delivery times and among its Prime subscribers, about 98% have subscribed for at least two years, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. The results of the survey come at a time when the company experienced growth and a decrease in profits and announced plans to cut jobs ahead of the holiday season, the most important period for sales for the company.
An Amazon spokeswoman said customers are still very satisfied with their experience, and the company has worked in recent years to improve the way customers find products on its site. The changes included introducing a product comparison tool and updating the app so customers can see the products and plans they’re looking for more easily.
There is no longer an obsession with customers at any cost
The decline in polls could be the result of a variety of reasons, including customer service problems and frustration with search results, analysts and former employees said. Amazon has increased profits by expanding the pool of third-party sellers using its platform and by adopting an advertising model in which sellers pay to appear at the top of the search list for certain products.
Both of these practices affected the clarity of search results, said Guru Hariharan, a former Amazon executive and now CEO of e-commerce company CommerceIQ.
“For 20 years, there was an obsession with customers at any cost,” Hariharan said. “Now, the obsession with customers is at the right level.”
Expanding the pool of sellers and introducing advertisements into search results “may have undermined the quality of Amazon’s marketplace,” said a report by Evercore ISI, published this summer.
The solution: use of algorithms adapted to the individual customers
The company is aware that there is a growing lack of satisfaction among some customers and has worked to improve the experience of users on the site, among other things, by using algorithms that are more tailored to individual customers based on data such as their previous search results, current and former employees said. Doing so requires a balance between expanding the products to continue being the “everything store” and on the other hand having a selection of successful products.
The spokeswoman for Amazon said that the company is more careful about the selection of products in the departments of its online stores such as Whole Foods Market. The company spent nearly $1 billion last year trying to fight counterfeiting, scams and other forms of abuse of the platform. Such seller tactics, as well as fake reviews, can skew search results.
Amazon says metrics like high user ratings on the phone app show shoppers are satisfied with the company’s services.
But in interviews, some Amazon shoppers expressed disappointment with the experience of shopping with the company even if they continue to see it as an essential part of their lives.
Ken Higgins, 48, said he has been an avid Amazon Prime subscriber since the service launched in 2005, but some experiences with the company have left him frustrated.
Recently, tried to repurchase a door spring from Amazon, but when he searched for the item, he couldn’t find it, even though he typed in the model number and found it in other stores. After a separate search, for a baby stroller, buy a stroller with Amazon’s two-day delivery promise. The product took a week to arrive, Higgins said.
“Amazon is so big now, they have the power to say, ‘This is it,'” said Higgins, who lives in Tallahassee, Florida. “The feeling is that they used to care more.”
Jackie Guerrero, an Amazon customer from the San Francisco area, said she recently waited about two weeks for a watch she ordered, and then Amazon sent her an email saying the watch could not be shipped, with no further explanation. It took her several attempts to reach someone in the company to get credit.
“If you really want to call and reach someone, it’s very difficult,” Guerrero said.
Amazon has taken steps to automate various aspects of its customer service. At the same time, over the years, the company has facilitated the return of products through partnerships with stores and opening its own physical shopping spaces.
The Amazon spokeswoman said the company consistently beats its goals of answering at least 80% of phone calls in a minute or less and responding to 80% of chat support calls in 30 seconds or less.
Amazon’s “within two days” delivery for Prime subscribers was sometimes extended to six days at the height of the epidemic, when the company faced a flood of orders and supply chain problems, according to research firm NielsenIQ. These averages have dropped in recent months to about two days, although in some remote areas, deliveries took an extra day, according to the NielsenIQ study. Senior Amazon executives said delivery times are stabilizing these days.
The company said that its promises regarding delivery times vary according to a variety of factors including the time of day the order is placed, the capacity of the transportation systems, the demand in the area of the order and the delivery address.