The study, which analyzed 51 major retail companies, found that the industry as a whole scored a 6.2 on the Customer Respect Index's 10-point scale. Five of the 51 companies did well enough to gain an "excellent" designation: Sears Roebuck LLC, Payless Shoesource, L.L. Bean Inc., CVS and Wal-Mart. Saks was the best site interms of communications; Sears Roebuck was deemed the most trusted Web site; and Walgreens was seen as best overall for site usability.

According to The Customer Respect Group, online retailers are much more willing to deal with individual questions and e-mails from consumers than they were last year. In the area of communications, retailers scored an average of 6.6 -- compared to an average for all industries of 4.9. Nearly half of the companies studied performed exceptionally well in communications, which for most industries is the area they score lowest. The best were Saks, Newegg, Footlocker, L.L.Bean and Victoria's Secret.

According to The Customer Respect Group:

- Ninety two percent of e-mails sent by researchers to retailers got a response. All industries combined averaged an 81 percent response rate;

- Of those responses, 69 percent were received within one day. The response rate for all industries combined was 52 percent;