SAM’S CLUB, AMAZON.COM RANK HIGHEST

Sam’s Club and Amazon.com scored highest among

retailers in the 2013 Tempkin Group ratings of customer

experience – tying with an 81% rating against the retailing

average of 74%. That average, by the way, was up from

71% the previous year.

Ace Hardware, Costco, Nordstrom, PetSmart, BJ’s

Wholesale, Dollar Tree, Walgreens and AutoZone filled

out the top 10. Of the 44 national retail chains included in

the survey, RadioShack ranked last for the third straight

year. And despite all of its hipness and hype,

Apple Store was next to last, based on Temkin’s

survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

For the wireless industry, TracFone topped

the customer survey for the third straight year,

although that was only a 66% rating, followed by

Verizon Wireless, Virgin Mobile, US Cellular

and Metro PCS. Three wireless companies

earned “poor” ratings for customer experience:

AT&T, Sprint and, in last place, T-Mobile.

The grocery store industry had the highest

average rating, 78%. Publix topped the list at

84%, followed by Trader Joe’s, Aldi, H.E.B. and Save-a-

Lot. Stop & Shop was last of the 16 chains ranked, with

Piggly Wiggly and Food Lion tied for next to last.

Chick-fil-A led the fast food industry at 82%, followed

by Dunkin’ Donuts, Sonic Drive-In, Little Caesar’s and

Subway. KFC was in last place of the 18 chains, just

behind McDonald’s.

The survey ranked consumer experience with 246

companies across 19 industries. The 10,000 customers

were asked to rate the companies for functional, accessible

and emotional elements of their experience.