Ace Hardware tops in customer service, Home Depot No. 4

Ace Hardware tops the eighth annual J.D. Power Home Improvement Retailer Satisfaction Study released Wednesday. Atlanta-based The Home Depot (NYSE: HD) is ranked No. 4.

The Home Depot is No. 4 on the eighth annual J.D. Power Home Improvement Retailer Satisfaction Study.

The study measures customer satisfaction with home improvement retail stores based on performance in five factors (in alphabetical order): merchandise (including availability, selection of brands available, usefulness of product information displays, and variety of merchandise offered); price; sales and promotions; staff and service (including availability, courtesy, ease of checkout, ease of returning merchandise, and knowledge); and store facility (including availability of parking, cleanliness of store, convenience of store location, ease of finding merchandise, and store layout and design).

The 2014 study is based on responses from more than 2,900 customers who purchased a home improvement product or service within the previous 12 months from a retail store that sells home improvement products. Customers evaluated their primary home improvement retailer. The study was fielded from January 2014 through March 2014.

J.D. Power says that while staff and service remain the most influential factors in satisfaction once customers are at a home improvement retail store, price is what drives customers to a retailer in the first place, underscoring the importance of competitive differentiation efforts via better price and value perception.

For the eighth consecutive year, Ace Hardware ranks highest in satisfying home improvement retail store customers, J.D. Power says.

According to the study:

Ace Hardware scored 791 on a 1,000-point scale and performs particularly well in the staff and service factor.

Menards is ranked No. 2 with a score of 787 and performs particularly well in the price and sales and promotions factors.

Lowe’s is No. 3 with a score of 779, followed The Home Depot (763), True Value (747), andSears (680).

Source:The Business Journals