2018 Retail Reputation Report

2018 was the biggest retail year on record, growing over 5% from 2017. But not everyone emerged a winner. Retailers with the strongest online reputation – measured using Reputation.com’s proprietary Reputation Score – experience 3.9% higher sales growth than laggards.

Who emerged as the overall reputation and sales performance leader for 2018? To find out, we applied machine learning and sentiment analysis to unstructured text from 4.7 million consumer reviews on Google and Facebook. The reviews cover in-store shopping experiences at nearly 30,000 locations owned by 88 marquee retail chains in the U.S. and Western Europe.

The Retail Reputation Report is packed with over 25 pages of analysis, findings and charts from the Reputation.com data science team. Download the full report for a comprehensive view of the state of Retail Reputation in 2018.

Here’s a snapshot of some high-level findings:

• The industry-average Reputation Score for the 88 retailers analyzed was 538. The median score was 547
• 13 retailers experienced a decline in their average star rating from 2017 to 2018, while 71 saw their average star rating increase
• The LEGO Store once again led the industry, with a Reputation Score of 695
• Holland & Barrett came in a solid last with a Reputation Score of 318
• Unsurprisingly, Toys “R” Us had a low Reputation Score of 451 and experienced the biggest decline in average star rating
• Gymboree has a Reputation Score of only 336, and its overall consumer rating trails Carter’s, OshKosh B’Gosh and The LEGO Store. Gymboree saw a year-over-year decline in store sales of over 3%, signaling potential problems ahead
• Signet Jewelers experienced the biggest year-over-year jump in average star rating (from 2.93 to 4.02); but their Reputation Score of 370 still places them in the bottom 5 of all 88 brands analyzed
• Disney Store declined one-half star in consumers’ assessment on wait time and manager competence
• Consumers also dinged IKEA on wait time, service and product in-stock
• Staff competence at Best Buy was judged by shoppers to be far superior to Apple’s renowned Genius Bar (4.3. stars v. 3.6). And Best Buy’s managers were also ranked higher than those at Apple stores (2.3 stars v. 1.7)

Download the full report for more in-depth analysis of leaders and laggards across adult apparel, children’s apparel and toys, department stores, electronics, grocery, health and beauty, housewares, luxury brands, and sporting goods.

The Retail Lineup:
Retailers included in this year’s report ranged from big-box discounters like Costco, to hardware merchants Lowe’s and The Home Depot, to high-end boutiques like Gucci and Tiffany & Co.

We analyzed 4.7 million consumer reviews, posted on Google and Facebook. The reviews covered in-store shopping experiences with these 88 marquee retail chains, at nearly 30,000 locations in the U.S. and Western Europe.