Backcountry.com has been recognized by Shopzilla’s BizRate.com as a “Circle of Excellence” Platinum Award winner for customer satisfaction. The Circle of Excellence Platinum Award recognizes the very best merchants in customer satisfaction, as judged by previous buyers from those merchants. This year, only 50 online retailers received the Circle of Excellence Platinum award.

“To be recognized by our customers as one of the web’s best retailers is the ultimate compliment,” said Jim Holland, Backcountry.com’s chief executive officer. “Customer service and selection have always been Backcountry.com’s key benchmarks. Our aim is to surprise our customers by our attentiveness and our rapid response times to their requests. This recognition tells us that we are on the right track.”

Online stores were awarded Circle of Excellence Platinum awards based on above average performance on seven key satisfaction metrics including: Overall Satisfaction, Product Selection, Ease of Finding Product, Repurchase Intent, Product Met Expectations, On-time Delivery, and Customer Support.

“Smart retailers have long figured-out that good service equals sales. If it were not for the exceptional quality of service these retailers have provided consumers, online spending would not have flourished over the last 10 years of ecommerce,” said Chuck Davis, chairman of Shopzilla. “The BizRate Research Circle of Excellence Awards serve to acknowledge those industry-leading retailers who make their customers a priority and raise the industry bar at the same time.”

BizRate developed the Circle of Excellence awards six years ago to help steer consumers towards top performing online stores for the holiday season. For a complete list of winners and a description of the methodology used, visit www.shopzilla.com.