RAPAPORT...  A new study by CARMA International measuring the favorability of the coverage of top retailers within the blog world found that wholesale clubs are favored over department stores when it comes to online praise or rants by consumers. CARMA analyzed consumer-written blog posts during January and February that specifically addressed leading retailers in the U.S. The media analysts identified wholesale clubs BJ's, Costco and Sam's Club as being viewed quite favorably by bloggers.

The researchers named Costco as the blogsphere's most favored retailer in the study. Although BJ's technically scored higher in the survey's ratings system, Costco was the clear winner because of the much larger number of posts that were written about it — 77 versus BJ's five. "Costco stood out in the blogosphere after it received the most praise for its low prices and quality product offerings," according to CARMA. Using a neutral base rating of 50 points, CARMA found that Kohl's, Dillard's, Macy's and Sears rated below average in favorability to bloggers, while Target, Nordstrom, Saks and Neiman Marcus registered readings slightly more favorable than the neutral benchmark.

Wal-Mart was written about more often than any other retailer. "Despite widespread favorable coverage in the mainstream media that Wal-Mart is the only retailer excelling in the current economic turmoil, the world's largest retail chain was one of the industry's worst performers in the blogosphere, receiving negative attention overall. CARMA found that Wal-Mart was the subject of the largest number of negative blog posts across the industry, with many of these posts being highly critical of the retailer, calling Wal-Mart 'evil' or other similar invectives." Only Kmart experienced a larger share of "intensely negative" coverage on blogs, but the number of Kmart-related posts was relatively small.

Macy’s had the least favorable coverage among those retailers that were referenced frequently in blogs, with a slightly below average 47 rating. CARMA concluded that Macy’s was harmed by considerable attention that focused on its financial performance and store closings. Sears tied for the second-worst favorability rating. Complaints about Sears’ customer service were the main cause of this poor showing, according to CARMA. "For instance, one blogger wrote extensively about his inability to lodge a complaint over the phone to an actual Sears employee, detailing how his efforts to 'press 1' to speak to a person were met with a repeated playing of the original message that prompted him to 'press 1.'"

"We were surprised at our findings," said Christopher Scully, CARMA International vice president and author of the study. "We thought Wal-Mart's financial coverage in the mainstream media would foster positive attention overall from the blogosphere, but that wasn't the case. Some bloggers criticized the company severely for being anti-worker, driving mom-and-pop stores out of business, and contributing to sprawl and to the decline of the American manufacturing base, and this hurt its overall depiction in blogs."

"Likewise, we didn't anticipate that wholesalers like Costco would fare so well, and how much their ability to offer quality products at low prices would factor into their strong performance," he added. "Costco really is well-positioned to excel in the blogosphere in today's economic climate, as our results suggest it can compete on price at a time when cost is foremost in consumers' minds without having to worry that people are going to think they are buying lesser-quality goods." 

NC