Nothing else even came close. By contrast, 45% said customer service related factors - friendliness of the staff, knowledge of the product, and speed of service - were key reasons people said they would return to a store to shop again. Just 25% said price is the determining factor in repeat business.

The department store that respondents identified as being stellar at providing customer service, by a wide margin, is Seattle-based Nordstrom’s (inspired by all that coffee?).

Among home improvement stores, Home Depot and Lowe’s are virtually tied. The bookstore with the best service was, by far, Barnes & Noble, while Best Buy was the electronics store with the best customer service in the eyes of our respondents.

Nordstrom’s beat Macys, Kohl’s, Sears, JC Penney, Target, K-Mart and Wal-Mart. Twice as many chose

Nordstrom’s for best service than chose Target, the next most popular store for service. Wal-Mart, with its yellow smiley-faced clad workers, was a close third, and after that, Kohl’s, Sears, Penny’s and Macy’s were virtually tied.

The older the shopper, the less popular Nordstrom’s becomes, our survey shows. Sears and Wal-Mart pick up the slack. Target’s customer service is popular with about 10% compared to Nordstrom’s 21%.

Nordstrom’s has emphasized excellent customer service for years. It is clear from this poll that the customers have noticed and appreciate the efforts.

The survey showed that about one in five respondents believed they spent more money in a store if they were approached by a sales associate, compared to nearly 60% who said they spend more if they are left to find their selections on their own.

As popular as the online experience has become, in terms of customer service Barnes & Noble online did not receive the same stellar marks its brick and mortar sibling did, with less than 2% choosing that as the bookstore with the best service. Amazon, another of the big gorilla online booksellers, was chosen by 13% as having the best customer service. If customer service means product knowledge, though, this makes sense, as the online experience is pretty much devoid of interaction between the customer and a live sales associate.

Computer-Savvy Americans Catch Internet Wave to Fill Holiday Shopping Needs

Turning their backs on their local department stores, a large percentage of

computer-savvy adults turned to the Internet to find that special something for that special someone during this just past holiday season, a new Zogby Interactive survey shows.

During the just-passed holiday shopping season, three out of every four who responded to an online survey said they purchased something over the Internet. What should be more unnerving to those who manage the hulking stores at the local mall: 97% of Internet shoppers said they were pleased with the purchase.

No lines. No in-store attitudes, and the only waiting you do is for the product to arrive.

Here’s how online poll respondents felt about their Internet shopping experience:

As you might expect, older respondents were less likely to shop online than younger shoppers, but it was the busy Baby Boomers and Echo Boomers who were most prolific with the keyboard consumption - 82% of those age35 to 54 said they shopped online, compared to 73% of those age 18 to 24. Of those age 25 to 34, 79% said they picked up a gift on the Internet.

The poll indicates that younger buyers may have had their expectations set a bit too high, and that they were not as pleased with the experience as older shoppers. While a large majority (81%) of those age 18-24 said the experience would make them want to buy online again, almost everyone (95%) of those age 70 or older said they are ready to buy online again.