Army and Air Force Exchange Service stores tied with Wal-Mart stores for the lowest ranking in customer satisfaction among the largest retailers, according to a national customer survey.
AAFES dropped by seven points from its score last year, to 68 out of a possible 100, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index results released Feb. 18. Wal-Mart dropped by three points.
The decline for AAFES was the largest among any retailer in the department and discount store category.
The ACSI surveys 250 customers from each retailer nationwide. In the case of AAFES, 250 customers worldwide were surveyed, according to ACSI director David VanAmburg. The highest-ranking retailer in the category was Nordstrom, with a score of 86.
The average score among retailers was 77.
Some have questioned the small sample size, but "250 is the magic number to achieve statistically valid data using ACSI methodology," an ACSI spokesman said.
The index "provides a uniform and independent measure of customer satisfaction," said Defense Department spokesman Navy Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen. It allows each DoD resale activity to compare benchmarks of their own past performance, and with their comparable grocery and retail industry counterparts, he said.
"We use the ACSI feedback to assess our relationship with our customers to improve the customer experience and ensure that our programs enhance the quality of life for service members and their families," Christensen said.
Customers rate their satisfaction with benchmarks such as convenience of store location and hours, frequency of sales and promotions, variety and selection of merchandise, courtesy and helpfulness of staff, layout and cleanliness of stores, availability of merchandise, ability to provide brand names, website satisfaction, call center satisfaction, and speed of checkout process.
ACSI does not provide scores for those individual benchmarks for each retailer.
Navy Exchange Service Command and Marine Corps Exchange stores are not included in the ACSI surveys, because they are smaller retailers. ASCI also surveys customers of large supermarkets, but the Defense Commissary Agency is not included in those.
However, defense officials subscribe to the ACSI for all the exchange systems and for the commissary agency, and pay for surveys.
None of the exchange services have received information about their results from DoD. Defense officials declined to provide scores for the other exchange services or for DeCA.
However, one source said the Marine Corps Exchange score is 70.
VanAmburg said a change was made this year in the survey methodology, which may factor into AAFES' drop in score.
Previously, only customers with landlines were surveyed. This year, DoD provided email contacts for the random sampling, which resulted in more active-duty members being surveyed and also allowed ACSI to survey AAFES customers overseas for the first time.
As a result, this year survey respondents were split roughly evenly between active-duty members and retirees, whereas before the percentage of active-duty troops was smaller — about 10 percent.
"ACSI data show that younger people are harder to please than older folks, which likely explains the drop in score for AAFES," VanAmburg said.
AAFES spokeswoman Julie Mitchell said the exchange service conducts its own survey, using CFI Group Inc., that includes many more customers — 43,000 — "to provide statistically relevant results."
CFI Group uses similar protocols to those used by the ACSI. In a CFI survey that concluded in late September, six weeks before the ASCI survey results were released, AAFES scored 80, one point higher than 2013, Mitchell said.
The latest ACSI survey also was conducted during the same timeframe in which AAFES was rolling out its new website, which had a number of problems in its initial launch phase. In the ACSI, AAFES is classified as both a department/discount store and an Internet retailer — and one benchmark measure for all retailers is website satisfaction.
The Marine Corps Exchange also conducted a survey that measures the same factors as the ACSI, in September, surveying 5,090 customers at 17 exchange locations. Its officials announced Feb. 23 that their Customer Satisfaction Index increased by one point, to 80.
Navy Exchange Service Command officials also conducted a Customer Satisfaction Index survey, of nearly 13,500 customers around the world, and officials said the score reached a new high of 86.
"Once you reach a score of 80, it is exponentially harder to increase your score," said Robert Bianchi, NEXCOM chief executive officer, in a release. "So I am thrilled and honored that our customers continue to rate us even higher year after year. Our score of 86 is among the highest recorded for retailers in studies using the same methodology."
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book "A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families." She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
