ACSI HOUSEHOLDAPPLIANCE AND ELECTRONICS REPORT 2016

ACSI

INDUSTRY RESULTS FOR:Personal Computers

Computer Software

Household Appliances

Televisions & Video Players

September 27, 2016

ABOUT ACSIThe American Customer Satisfaction

Index (ACSI) is a national economic

indicator of customer evaluations of

the quality of products and services

available to household consumers in

the United States.

The ACSI uses data from interviews

with roughly 70,000 customers

annually as inputs to an econometric

model for analyzing customer

satisfaction with more than 300

companies in 43 industries and

10 economic sectors, including

various services of federal and local

government agencies.

ACSI results are released throughout

the year, with all measures reported

on a scale of 0 to 100. ACSI data

have proven to be strongly related

to a number of essential indicators

of micro and macroeconomic

performance. For example, firms

with higher levels of customer

satisfaction tend to have higher

earnings and stock returns relative

to competitors. Stock portfolios

based on companies that show

strong performance in ACSI deliver

excess returns in up markets as

well as down markets. At the macro

level, customer satisfaction has

been shown to be predictive of

both consumer spending and GDP

growth.

American CustomerSatisfaction Index®

Televisions & Video Players87 +6.1%

Household Appliances82 +1.2%

Personal Computers78 +1.3%

Computer Software81 +9.5%

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PERSONAL COMPUTERS, LAPTOPS, AND TABLETSAfter three years of declining customer satisfaction, personal computers—including desktops, laptops, and tablets—rebound 1.3% to an ACSI score of 78 on a scale of 0 to 100. Desktop computers are still the highest-scoring category, unchanged at 81, although tablets and laptops improve for the first time in four years. Tablets are up 4% to a score of 78, inching ahead of laptops, which gain 3% to 77.

Customer Satisfaction Improves for PCs, TVs, Computer Software, and

Household Appliances

ACSI Household Appliance and Electronics Report 2016

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In 2015, year-over-year tablet sales dropped for the first time. Likewise, customer satisfaction fell 6% for tablets, pushing them down into a tie with laptops at 75. As smartphones have gotten bigger, they have taken a bite out of overall tablet sales. The industry has responded by developing detachable tablet devices with snap-on keyboards, which show potential for driving growth that could slow the overall decline in PC shipments, especially among business users.

Much like the smartphone category, the personal computer industry has become a race between Apple and Samsung for both market share and customer satisfaction. Apple and Samsung dominate market share in the tablet category, but the two companies take divergent views on the future of tablets. Apple continues to add laptop-like functionality to iPads, while Samsung sees tablets as additional devices for entertainment and browsing that complement—but not replace—laptops. For customer satisfaction, Apple remains the overall leader in the PC industry, unchanged at 84. Samsung leaps 6% to 83 in its second year of ACSI tracking, now just a point behind Apple.

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Amazon, which manufactures only tablets and no traditional PCs, gains 3% to an ACSI score of 80 on the strength of its budget-friendly Fire tablet. This score places Amazon comfortably above the industry average.

Three companies known more for PCs than tablets come in even with the industry average: Acer, ASUS, and Dell. A year ago, Acer tumbled 8% to last place, and its revenue fell by 20%. This year, the company appears to have turned a corner, and Acer shows the biggest improvement—up 11% to 78. ASUS edges up 1% to 78, alongside Dell (unchanged).

HP gains 5% to 77 but is a notch below average. Likewise, Lenovo (+3%) and Toshiba (+4%) are at the lower end with scores of 76. The combined score for all other, smaller PC manufacturers falls 4% to the bottom of the category at 73.

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The strongest aspect of PCs continues to be design (83) even though users rate it slightly lower than they did a year ago. Ease of operation, however, is a bit better (81), as is ability to keep crashes to a minimum (80). PC features have improved the most as users are happier with operating systems, preloaded software, memory, and data storage (79). Processing speed (78) declines for a second year in a row, perhaps a result of more demanding video and graphics.

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COMPUTER SOFTWARECustomer satisfaction with software for desktops and laptops surges 9.5% to 81, the highest score for the category in the history of the ACSI. Microsoft’s Windows 10 has been well received, boosting the company’s ACSI score by 7% to 80. Smaller software makers (including antivirus software and TurboTax) post gains, rising 9% to a combined score of 81. Overall website satisfaction for computer software has also improved to 80, up 4% from 77 in 2015.

HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCESAs manufacturers invest in smart technology, customer satisfaction with household appliances (including washers, dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators, freezers, ranges, and ovens) climbs 1.2% to an ACSI score of 82.

As with the auto industry, Asian and European manufacturers lead the industry. South Korea-based LG pushes the industry bar up 4% to 85, followed closely by Bosch and Samsung. A year ago, German appliance manufacturer Bosch lagged the industry in last place. The company’s innovation in the internet of things (IoT) and investment in the user experience have improved customer perceptions of value, resulting in a 6% gain to 84 for Bosch. Samsung, based in South Korea, is quickly gaining market share and registers a 4% improvement to 84.

GE Appliances, recently acquired by China’s biggest appliance manufacturer Haier, is unchanged at 82, just ahead of Electrolux (Sweden), Whirlpool (Michigan), and the combined score of all other smaller manufacturers (all 81).

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TELEVISIONS AND VIDEO PLAYERSTelevisions and Blu-ray & DVD players soar 6.1% to an ACSI score of 87 as smart technology and low prices lift customer satisfaction to an all-time high for the category. TVs now lead among all ACSI industries by a substantial margin of 5 points. Functionality is improving as many TVs and video systems can connect to the internet and include apps for popular video platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and even YouTube. Users are exceptionally pleased with the value of newer TV models. Website satisfaction for the TV and video player industry is 84, up 6% from 79 in 2015.

No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the data and information in this report without the express prior written consent of ACSI LLC.

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ABOUT THIS REPORTThe ACSI Household Appliance and Electronics Report 2016 on personal computers, computer software, major household appliances, and televisions and DVD/Blu-ray players is based on interviews with 3,500 customers, chosen at random and contacted via email between June 17 and June 30, 2016. Customers are asked to evaluate their experiences with recently purchased products of the largest manufacturers in terms of market share, plus an aggregate category consisting of “all other”—and thus smaller—companies in these industries.

The survey data are used as inputs to ACSI’s cause-and-effect econometric model, which estimates customer satisfaction as the result of the survey-measured inputs of customer expectations, perceptions of quality, and perceptions of value. The ACSI model, in turn, links customer satisfaction with the survey-measured outcomes of customer complaints and customer loyalty. ACSI clients receive confidential industry-competitive and best-in-class data on all modeled variables and customer experience benchmarks.

ACSI and its logo are Registered Marks of the University of Michigan, licensed worldwide exclusively to American Customer Satisfaction Index LLC with the right to sublicense.

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