According to StellaService's new rankings of online retailers on their customer service performance for July, REI, Cabela's and Dick's Sporting Goods earned the top grades in the sporting goods/outdoor channel.
In terms of service issues involving phone calls, REI.com ranked first, followed by Cabelas.com, BassPro.com, SierraTradingPost.com and SportsmansGuide.com. In regards to service issues around e-mail, Cabelas.com was first, followed by REI.com, SierraTradingPost.com, BassPro.com and DicksSportingGoods.com .
In regards to shipping, REI.com led the way, followed by DicksSportingGoods.com, SierraTradingPost.com, BassPro.com and Cabelas.com. On returns, Cabelas.com ranked first followed by DicksSportingGoods.com, BassPro.com, SportsmansGuide.com, and SierraTradingPost.com.
The report only analyzed those five chains in the sporting goods/outdoor channel.
ANALYSIS
Phone – REI.com topped the rankings, boasting the best issue resolution. Still, the retailer showed room for improvement with total time to reach a live agent.
Email – Cabelas.com posted an average response time to initial emails that was among the best for all retailers evaluated. Additionally, the retailer had the best issue resolution in the vertical.
Shipping – REI.com delivered orders about two days faster than its closest competitor in the vertical, moving the retailer from second last month to first in the overall ranking.
Returns – Cabelas.com provided an adhesive, prepaid return label in every order, helping them rank best in Returns for the Sporting Goods & Outdoors vertical.
In the 'Sportswear' channel category, Lululemon earned top grades across most categories. On phone customer service issues, Shop.lululemon.com ranked first, followed by UnderArmour.com, FootLocker.com, Fanatics.com and Store.Nike.com
On e-mail issues, Shop.lululemon.com was first and then UnderArmour.com, Store.Nike.com, FootLocker.com and FinishLine.com.
On shipping issues, shop.lululemon.com again ranked first, followed by FootLocker.com, FinishLine.com, UnderArmour.com and Store.Nike.com.
On returns, Fanatics.com ranked first, followed by FinishLine.com, Shop.lululemon.com, UnderArmour.com and FootLocker.com.
ANALYSIS
Phone – Shop.lululemon.com's total time to live agent was among the best-in-class for all retailers – a speedy 22 seconds. It's the retailer's fourth consecutive month leading the Phone category in Sportswear.
Email – Shop.lululemon.com offers consistently fast replies, but issue resolution is where the retailer stands apart from others in the category. The retailer, along with JCrew.com, resolved all of STELLAService's issues via email.
Shipping – With total days to delivery about a day faster than the closest competitor in the vertical, Shop.lululemon.com topped the Shipping category. Footlocker.com showed room for improvement in days to fulfill orders.
Returns – Fanatics.com did not require a return authorization and included an adhesive, prepaid label in every order. Fanatics.com has led the category for two consecutive months.
Over all the online retailers it tracks looking at combined scores for all four service areas it benchmarks, StellaService said the following companies were strongest overall:
- JCrew.com
- LLBean.com
- Net-A-Porter.com
- Nordstrom.com
- SaksFifthAvenue.com
- Sephora.com
- Shop.lululemon.com
- Store.Apple.com
- Wayfair.com
- Zappos.com
