The release reads:

ACSI: ONLY SMALL DIP IN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION THOUGH ECONOMIC PROBLEMS ABOUND

Many Companies Shore Up Customer Relationships; Nike, Colgate-Palmolive Improve; Heinz Stays On Top; Campbell Soup, Apparel Makers Slide

Aggregate customer satisfaction as measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) continues to worsen -- a trend that began in 2007 -- but the deterioration for the third quarter is small. The ACSI loses 0.1%, which brings the Index to a score of 75.0 on a 100-point scale. The decline in buyer satisfaction has precipitated a softening of consumer demand, with household spending actually falling in the third quarter for the first time in 17 years. Despite the overall drop in ACSI, many companies are actually improving customer relationships: gainers lead decliners 46% to 27%, with 27% unchanged.

In years past, rising customer satisfaction has helped sustain economic growth via consumer spending even though wages did not improve much. But as the financial crisis has led to a credit crunch and a contracting economy with high unemployment, the ability of households to spend money is now seriously curtailed.

"The good news is that there has not been a collapse in customer satisfaction, but rather that the slide in ACSI might be flattening; the bad news is that customer satisfaction will not contribute to aggregate consumer spending as much as it used to. Households are strapped for cash, have little savings and credit is tight,"said Professor Claes Fornell, founder of the ACSI and author of The Satisfied Customer. "But for individual companies, customer satisfaction actually matters even more in a recession. Now is the time to make sure customers don't leave and that margins don't evaporate. Firms without strongly satisfied customers will face a very difficult challenge."For the third quarter, the ACSI reports results for the non-durable goods sector, including apparel, athletic shoes, breweries, cigarettes, food manufacturing, pet food, personal care & cleaning products, and soft drinks.

Athletic Shoes: Nike Continues Climb

Nike surges 4% to 78, with new products such as the Nike+iPod Gym, which makes it possible to record workouts on treadmills and bikes, seeming to have contributed to the improvement. Two years after adidas'acquisition of Reebok, the combined brands enjoyed a considerable edge over Nike -- a lead that has now been erased.