Customer satisfaction improves for a third consecutive year for retail, according to a report released today by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The retail sector overall gains 1.7 percent to an ACSI benchmark of 77.9, boosted by higher customer satisfaction with specialty retail stores, supermarkets, drugstores, and gasoline service stations. A fourth traditional retail industry, department and discount stores, shows no change in customer satisfaction compared with a year ago.

Better customer service and widespread discounting among brick-and-mortar retailers more than offsets a drop in customer satisfaction with Internet retail. With more shoppers choosing to purchase online, customer service may have hit a rough patch for web retailers during the 2013 holiday season Although online sales growth for the period was weaker than expected, it far exceeded the uptick for traditional retail sales.

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