NEW YORK, July 10, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today the New York-based Luxury Institute released its groundbreaking 2018 Emotionally Intelligent Brand Index, featuring annual rankings and ratings for leading multi-brand retailers by affluent U.S. consumers. The Emotionally Intelligent Brand Index methodology was developed using 10 years of proprietary, quantitative and qualitative research with affluent consumers, front-line associates, managers and executives. The survey distills the deep human connection drivers that drive brand equity with affluent consumers across any channel, or form of engagement.
According to the nationally representative sample of affluent consumers surveyed, Nordstrom is the most emotionally intelligent multi-brand retailer in America. Nordstrom earns an overall score of 7.65 out of a maximum possible score of 10. The Seattle-based brand clearly stands apart from other multi-brand retailers primarily by delivering superior customer service and good quality products. Nordstrom also outperforms across all key indicators of emotional intelligence: empathy, trustworthiness, and generosity. The brand scores particularly well among women, while men draw a smaller distinction between Nordstrom and other leading multi-brand retailers.
While Amazon is easily the most well-known multi-brand retailer (88% familiarity vs. 61% for Nordstrom) and is the most popular multi-brand retailer (79% report purchasing from Amazon in the past 12 months vs. 27% for Nordstrom), affluent consumers express an extreme mix of high and low opinions of Amazon compared to other leading multi-brand retailers. For example, in product quality, while 20% of affluents rate Amazon as having the best quality merchandise, a stunning 40% rate it as having the worst quality among the brands rated. And while 36% rate Amazon as having the best customer service experience, 24% of affluents rate it the worst. In emotional intelligence metrics, Amazon is by far the most bipolar brand. It has the largest number of affluent consumers rating the brand as both the most empathic (38%) and least empathic (25%) multi-brand retailer, and the most affluents rating it the most trustworthy (34%) and the least trustworthy (26%). In brand generosity, Amazon is rated at the extremes too with 36% reporting it is the most generous and 32% report it is the least generous. While Amazon is the brand recommended most by affluents at a rate of 2:1 vs its nearest competitor Nordstrom, the people who recommended against Amazon cited the way the brand treats it employees, the lack of good service, and the fact that it is a monopoly, among key reasons.
“Delivering great products and quality today are merely a cost of entry, even if you deliver them instantly. Even having great customer service is insufficient to be sustainable today. Many will only see the short-term impact, yet Nordstrom, while having its challenges lately, looks more adaptable and agile for the long-term functional and emotional needs of consumers than Amazon,” said Milton Pedraza, Luxury Institute and EIX CEO. “This analysis makes it crystal clear that while Amazon is the current product category killer, it has a long way to go to be an admired and beloved brand. Amazon, to many affluents, even those who buy from it frequently for convenience, is a soulless utility. Jeff Bezos needs to lead this brand to establish emotional connections with the human beings who work for the brand, and purchase products through the brand. Sooner or later, just as with humans, your brand’s deep lack of emotional intelligence will catch up to you, with negative results.”
The EIBI survey also provides rated brands with their full, detailed scores by demographic customer segments, as well as the ratings of their competitive set. Brands rated and ranked are in alphabetical order:
- Amazon
- Barneys New York
- Bergdorf Goodman
- Bloomingdale’s
- Neiman Marcus
- Net-A-Porter
- Nordstrom
- Saks Fifth Avenue
- Sephora
- Ulta
The EIBI survey is an extension of the Luxcelerate high-performance client relationship system pioneered by Luxury Institute 10 years ago using advanced neuroscience, high performance science, and technology science. Luxcelerate helps to transform the brand’s executives, managers and front-line teams into emotionally intelligent, high-performance relationship builders. By optimizing high humanity with high performance, Luxcelerate has dramatically improved customer data collection, conversion, retention rates and profitability for small, medium and large brands across the world. For case studies and testimonials please visit www.luxuryinstitute.com .
The Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of over 1,200 responders with a minimum of $150K annual household income across several brand categories most consumed by affluent consumers.
The complete 2018 U.S. leading Multi-Brand Retailers Emotional Intelligent Brand Index is available for purchase. For more information please visit www.LuxuryInstitute.com or contact Luxury Institute CEO Milton Pedraza ( mpedraza@luxuryinstitute.com ).
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