Customer satisfaction with pet food dropped a mere 1 percentage point in the third quarter of 2005, registering a score of 82 on the American Customer Satisfaction Index, according to a report by the Ross School of Business at The University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) in partnership with the American Society for Quality and CFI Group.

The big news, according to the report, was the rebound by Del Monte Foods (Pittsburgh). It scored 83, up 5 percentage points from the year-earlier period. Researchers attribute its improvement in the pet food category to better quality and value for money.

All competitors were grouped tightly around the industry average, with scores of 81 to 83. At the low end of this narrow spectrum, Nestlé Purina PetCare Co. (St. Louis), the world’s largest pet food manufacturer, scored 81, dropping nearly 4 percentage points and recording its lowest score in five years. It is now tied with The Iams Co. (Dayton, Ohio).

Like food manufacturing, pet food companies demonstrate a great deal of stability in satisfying their customers. It is very rare for any one company in this high-scoring industry to record an ACSI score below 82.

The aggregate ACSI for all goods and services increased slightly for the third quarter of 2005, was 73.2, down 1.5 percentage points from the year-earlier period.

Recent improvements in aggregate ACSI scores have been minute and have done little to counter the tumble that began in the fourth quarter of 2004. This comes at a time when the country’s gross domestic product is up 3.8 percent, but household incomes are not keeping pace and household savings are negative.

Despite the historical relationship between customer satisfaction measured in one quarter and consumer spending in the following quarter, the outlook for spending in the fourth quarter was unclear.

“Combine this marginal rise in customer satisfaction with uncertainty due to high energy prices, recent natural disasters and increasing interest rates, and we really don’t have any reason to be optimistic that consumer spending will substantially increase during the fourth quarter,” said professor Claes Fornell, who heads the ACSI at the University of Michigan. [January 2006 PET AGE]