Consumers Want Amazon Stores

According to consumer experience analytics company ForeSee’s recently released ForeSee Experience Index (FXI), an annual survey of over 40,000 holiday shoppers measuring online, mobile and in-store experiences with the top 100 brands in the U.S., Amazon is, somewhat unsurprisingly, out on top of the pile.

The online retail giant led the FXI for the sixth year in a row with a customer experience score of 85 out of 100. Apple, Coach, H&M and L.L. Bean tied for second place.

Amazon scored high in the four main drivers of a good web shopping experience according to ForeSee: price, merchandise, product descriptions and navigation. ForeSee found that consumers who have a positive web shopping experience are 60 percent more likely to purchase from that retailer’s website, 64 percent more likely to return to the retailer for similar merchandise and 64 percent more likely to recommend the company to a friend.

Some 85 percent of shoppers surveyed by ForeSee reported they had placed an Amazon order within the past year, and 59 percent say they shop at Amazon at least once a month. Perhaps the most intriguing find in the FXI data is that 60 percent of consumers say they want Amazon to open brick-and-mortar stores — which bodes well for the success of Amazon’s current and future plans.

The eCommerce giant has been experimenting with physical locations in various forms since it opened its first bookstore location in Seattle back in November 2015. Plans to open 100 specialized Amazon stores selling Kindles, Fire Tablets and Echo devices surfaced in September of this year.

Most recently, Amazon is gunning to own the grocery space of the future with its hi-tech Amazon Go. The first is slated to open in early 2017, with as many as 2,000 more to come in the next decade. If the FXI survey is any indication, 60 percent of customers will be lining up around the block to get at Amazon’s brick-and-mortar offerings come opening day.