ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Beverages surged 4%, topping the list in the just-released American Customer Satisfaction Index’s Nondurable Products Study 2021-2022, finishing with 81 out of 100 points.
Beverages were joined by athletic shoes, which also scored 81.
After finishing at the bottom of the industry last year, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola now leads all soft drink makers, rising 6% to an ACSI score of 82, according to the index.
“The group of smaller soft drink makers remains unchanged at 81 but shares second place with Keurig Dr Pepper (Plano, Texas), which improves 3% year over year,” ACSI said. “PepsiCo (Purchase, N.Y.) takes last place despite a stable score of 78.”
Breweries improved as well, up 1% to an ACSI score of 80—and a three-way tie for second with full-service restaurants and televisions.
A group of smaller breweries, including brands like Boston-based Samuel Adams and Pottsville, Pa.-based Yuengling and several craft labels, stayed in first place with an unchanged ACSI score of 82.
Among big brewers, ACSI newcomer Constellation Brands, Victor, N.Y., led with a score of 81, followed by Anheuser-Busch InBev, Leuven, Belgium, which improves 1% to 79, and Molson Coors, Chicago, which increased 1% to 78.
“Most nondurable products industries do quite well in the index as they offer frequently purchased items that typically display strong quality,” said Forrest Morgeson, assistant professor of marketing at Michigan State University and director of research emeritus at the ACSI.
The ACSI Nondurable Products Study 2021-2022 is based on interviews with 6,076 customers, chosen at random and contacted via email between October 2021 and September 2022.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index has been a national economic indicator for 25 years. It measures and analyzes customer satisfaction with more than 400 companies in 47 industries and 10 economic sectors, including various services of federal and local government agencies. Reported on a scale of 0 to 100, scores are based on data from interviews with roughly 500,000 customers annually.
The ACSI is based in Ann Arbor, Mich.
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