Gomez: E*Trade Tops In First Quarter

E-commerce research and analysis firm Gomez Advisors Inc. Thursday ranked E*Trade as the top overall online brokerage company in its latest scorecard evaluating online stock trading services.

Gomez also ranked National Discount Brokers and Charles Schwab in second and third place,
respectively, out of 53 brokerage companies that met the eligibility requirements.

E*TRADE regained the top ranking it had lost to DLJdirect, which fell to fourth position overall, in the last quarter.

“In this quarter, we have seen a defined shift in the online brokerage market,” explained Julio Gomez, chairman and founder of Gomez Advisors. “Customers are putting the pressure on the online
brokers to improve their service and upgrade their systems.”

“Brokers who have responded by making changes have gone up in the rankings; those who chose the status quo have dropped dramatically.”

Gomez credited the rating to E*TRADE’s improved multi-tiered customer service, which includes life event planning tools, research, tax accounting, NASDAQ Level II quotes and price alerts.

E*TRADE ranked first among serious investors and one-stop shoppers in the Gomez Advisors profile, as well as topping the relationship services and ease of use categories.

The biggest jump in the quarterly listing came from National Discount Brokers, which climbed from 19th to No. 2.

Traditional banks made a first appearance on the Gomez scorecard, with Banc One as the first bank to hit the top 20, ranking 15th.

Discover Brokerage, Watley, Datek, Suretrade, Quick & Reilly and Fidelity rounded out the top 10.