Clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch has earned the title of America's most hated brand for the first time since the company was founded, scoring the lowest points among 22 specialty retailers that were part of a survey conducted by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), reported the Daily Mail.
Out of a 100-point system, the retailer only managed to earn a meager 65 points, a score that lags almost 12 points lower than the retail sector's average. Some of the metrics involved in the survey include the store's quality of merchandise, checkout speed, and the staff's efficiency.
"The low score shows that customers do not perceive the quality of the merchandise or customer service to be very high, A&F has the dubious distinction of being the lowest scoring retailer ever on ACSI," an ACSI representative said in an email, according to Fortune.
The previous holder of the lowest score in the ACSI survey was Walmart, which earned a low 66 points in 2015. Forrest Morgeson, ACSI's director of research, believes that while Walmart's low score was understandable due to the company's size, Abercrombie & Fitch's score was quite alarming.
"Normally when we see that kind of a gap, it's a company so large it has monopoly power like Walmart or McDonald's. Abercrombie & Fitch is not that, they aren't that large. This can spell serious trouble for the company," he said, reported The Examiner.
Abercrombie & Fitch has had its fair share of controversies in the past, including its former CEO's statements that the brand is specifically for "attractive" customers only, as well as an ad campaign for young girls' clothing that was deemed too provocative by parents and human rights groups across the country.
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