F. Curtis Barry & Company’s Multichannel Operations & Fulfillment Blog

We all know that e-commerce has had big percentage growth for the past three years. In fact, e-commerce grew 20% overall last year, even though that’s largely a transfer of sales from catalog. Many of our clients now have more than 50% of their total direct sales coming through e-commerce.

E-commerce has just received another kudo. “Customer satisfaction with the e-commerce sector hits an all time high” begins a February 19 press release from the University of Michigan regarding its latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

On a 100-point scale, Amazon ranks #2 at an all time high of 88, in the survey of 200 companies across different sectors. Newegg debuts at 87 and Netflix at 84. Amazon is ahead of consumer pleasing companies Apple and Southwest Airlines.

“The improvement in e-commerce is impressive, given the downward trend in the national ACSI” ratings, said the head of the ACSI at University of Michigan.

I think they are right on in some of their observations.

• Amazon’s efforts are paying off—and not only in its high ranking in this survey. Amazon recorded its biggest fourth quarter revenue ever. Are there very many brick and mortar stores or catalog businesses that can say that about 2007?

• Against the backdrop of the weakening economy and the transition that catalog must go through because of paper and postage price escalation, e-commerce is a channel we must find the appropriate strategies to grow.

Customers find the convenience of Web shopping, the product and service research capabilities, the ability to price compare, and the order tracking capabilities a good fit to their business lifestyles.

Curt Barry is president of F. Curtis Barry & Company, a multichannel operations and fulfillment consulting firm with expertise in multichannel systems, warehouse, call center, inventory, and benchmarking; Learn more online at: http://www.fcbco.com.