Consumers consider Nordstrom their favorite place to buy fashion, while consigning America’s top retailer, Wal-Mart, to the bottom of the list, according to a new Market Force information survey.

This is the third consecutive year Nordstrom has topped the Market Force survey, which polled 4,300 consumers about their opinions on fashion retailers.

Nordstrom had a composite loyalty score of 66 percent, followed by Kohl’s with 53 percent, and T.J. Maxx, Macy’s, and Dillard’s, which all scored 52 percent. T.J. Maxx moved up two spaces from last year’s survey.

Wal-Mart scored the worst of all brands listed, with a 27 percent loyalty score. Also near the bottom were Winners, with a 30 percent score, and Old Navy, with 38 percent.

Courtesy Market Force

Nordstrom scored best in two of the four categories measured by the survey: merchandising and “just for me,” which ranks personalized and exclusive merchandise.

H&M scored in the top two in three of the categories: It was first in environmental consciousness, second in “just for me,” and second in store operations.

The survey also looked at mobile apps and found low consumer adoption. Sixty-seven percent of consumers didn’t know if their favorite retailer offered a mobile app. But of the 25 percent who were aware of the apps, more than half (52 percent) use them. Target has the highest mobile-app adoption rate, followed by H&M, Wal-Mart, Nordstrom, and Kohl’s. Consumers primarily used the apps to check prices (75 percent), receive promotions or discounts (62 percent), browse merchandise (59 percent), check merchandise availability (41 percent), and purchase items (39 percent).

“Our research is telling us that for a retailer, being good just isn’t good enough,” said Cheryl Flink, chief strategy officer for Market Force, in a statement. “In order to move the needle in an industry where several retailers are clustered closely in the ‘good enough’ zone, brands must strive to utterly delight their customers across many attributes in order to rise above the noise and win wallet share.”

Rob Bates

JCK News Director