Survey: L.L. Bean tops in overall customer service in August

New York - L.L. Bean provided the best overall customer service in August 2014. This marked the retailer’s fourth time topping Stella Benchmarks in customer service during 2014.



The retailer repeated its top performance from the previous month by ranking among the Top 25 in phone, email, shipping and returns. Nine companies that did not rank in the Top 25 overall for July earned a spot in August: Gap, Marc Jacobs, Burberry, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Motosport, Microsoft, Brooks Brothers and Wayfair.

Looking at all companies included in Stella Benchmarks in July, the following companies were best overall performers within the five service areas measured:



• Phone: J.Crew

• Email: KingSizeDirect.com

• Chat: Adidas

• Shipping: Target

• Returns: Mr Porter



Companies that have ranked in the Top 25 overall every month in 2014:



• J.Crew

• L.L. Bean

• Zappos

• Shopbop

• Net-A-Porter



One of the standouts in the most recent benchmarks was Target’s shipping performance. The retailer shaved three days off its total days to delivery in August, its fastest performance in more than two years of coverage by StellaService. Several orders originated from locations not within proximity of Target’s distribution centers, suggesting the retailer is shipping from store. No package spent more than two days in transit and all but one order shipped same-day. Previously, Stella analysis found that Target orders could take up to two days to fulfill, and more items traveled cross-country, which led to longer transit times.