Customers Give Thumbs Up to Quality at Lowe’s and Wachovia; Thumbs Down to Home Depot and Wells Fargo
American Society for Quality’s Quarterly Report Shows Which Companies Have Highest Quality, According to Customers
Milwaukee, Wisconsin (February 21, 2006) – The way that customers perceive product and service quality at major U.S. retailers and banks varies wildly, according to the Quarterly Quality Report released today by the American Society for Quality. Customers are very pleased with quality of goods and services provided by Lowe’s and Wachovia, but rate Home Depot and Wells Fargo significantly lower.
“This quarter’s ACSI results fly in the face of conventional wisdom saying that it’s very difficult for companies in established industries to differentiate themselves with customers on the basis of quality,” said Jack West, a past president of the American Society for Quality and the author of the Quality Report. “We see huge differences this quarter between established industry leaders like Lowe’s and Wachovia and laggards like Home Depot and Wells Fargo, and the differences can be traced directly back to the kinds of quality programs they have in place.”
The Quarterly Quality Report examines one of the most critical components of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), also released today: perceived quality of the goods and services measured by the ACSI.
This quarter’s Quality Report focuses on customers’ perceived quality of the goods and services provided in the retail and banking industries. The ACSI reports on different sectors each quarter. The ACSI is produced by the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business in partnership with the American Society for Quality and CFI Group, with e-commerce sponsor ForeSee Results.
RETAIL
The quality index for the retail industry is down almost 2% to a 77.6. Most of this decline can be explained by the decline of one company: Home Depot, which suffered the largest decline in perceived quality of any company measured this quarter. Conversely, customers continue to give Lowe’s higher and higher marks in terms of product and service quality. This difference in perceived quality is driving Lowe’s and Home Depot’s diverging ACSI scores as well.
“Home Depot is using state of the art quality techniques but they are being used mostly in the support and logistics areas,” said West. “These kinds of initiatives, aimed at rationalizing Home Depot’s internal systems for operational efficiency and productivity, are the types of things that customers do not see directly in the short term, if they ever do. Wal-Mart is another example of a company whose management emphasis is on efficiency and cost control possibly at the expense of customer service. Wal-Mart’s quality scores have consistently been among the lowest in the retail sector.”
BANKS
The perceived quality aggregate score in the banking industry remained at steady 77, but there has been huge differentiation within the category. Wachovia has been outshining the others on customer quality ratings while Wells Fargo has been falling behind on this measure, punctuated by a rather steep decline in the current quarter.
“Both Wachovia and Wells Fargo have undergone mergers recently, which usually result in disruptions to customer service quality,” said West. “But Wachovia seems to have learned the hard way from past experiences and managed a major acquisition without significant shocks to customers. Wells Fargo, despite an otherwise good reputation, has clearly not been able to deliver the kind of service quality its customers expect, which is reflected in its declining scores.”
About the Quarterly Quality Report
ASQ’s Quarterly Quality Report is an analysis of customers' perceptions of the quality and reliability of products and services. It is based on data generated by the nation's leading measure of customer satisfaction, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).
About the ACSI
The American Customer Satisfaction Index is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the United States. The index is produced by the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business in partnership with the American Society for Quality and CFI Group, and is supported in part by ForeSee Results, corporate sponsor for the e-commerce and e-business measurements, and by Market Strategies Inc., a major corporate contributor.
About the American Society for Quality
The American Society for Quality is the world’s leading authority on quality. With more than 92,000 individual and organizational members, the professional association advances learning, quality improvement, and knowledge exchange to improve business results and to create better workplaces and communities worldwide. As champion of the quality movement, ASQ offers technologies, concepts, tools, and training to quality professionals, quality practitioners, and everyday consumers, encouraging all to Make Good Great®. ASQ has been the sole administrator of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award since 1991. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the 60-year-old organization is a founding partner of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a prominent quarterly economic indicator.
Other information about ASQ and the ASQ Quality Report can be found on the ASQ Web site.
Read the complete report.
