Consumer sentiment plummeted in 2020 and has not rebounded this year, judging by Reputation Report 2021 Retail Industry, a study published Wednesday by Reputation.
But some brands excelled at providing an excellent customer experience.
Reputation examined 3.7 million shopper reviews and applied machine-learning algorithms to rank the top retailers by reputation, sentiment, visibility and engagement.
The study notes that the volume of online reviews has jumped by 12% this year over 2020. But it’s still down 22%. Still, 90% of consumers read reviews before making a purchase, and 72% read several.
Bath & Body Works was the leading brand, pulling a reputation score of 629. Ace Hardware was next with 627.
Here are the rankings, based on the company’s reputation scores.
These are measured on a scale of 0 to 1,000, and are an index of the digital presence of business locations based on sentiment, visibility, and engagement across nine elements, including: Star average, review volume, review recency, review spread, search impressions, social engagement, listing accuracy, review response and review length.
Reporting of these rankings does not imply any endorsement by MediaPost.
U.S. Rankings: Top 30 Retailers
U.K. Rankings: Top 20 Retailers