A poll of Circuit City customers found that the majority of them will now take their consumer electronics shopping to Best Buy.
This is sort of a "in other news, the sky is blue" story, but it does underscore how few other options consumers have now that there's only one national consumer electronics retailer left in the U.S. NPD Group found that 55 percent of former Circuit City customers will now shop at Best Buy. Wal-Mart was far behind in second place with 11 percent. The press release doesn't say what other retailers will get the remaining 36 percent, but it's probably a patchwork of regional stores around the country.
Of the customers polled, 40 percent said price was the most important factor in chosing another retailer, 29 percent said selection was most important and 22 percent valued convience of the store's location. Really, though, most customers probably take all three things into account when deciding where to go.
There are some pithy comments from NPD vice president of industry analysis Stephen Baker on the group's official blog. With online sales threatening to take over, he says the need for more products on the floor of physical stores is important as ever. "In these tough economic times consumers want to buy inexpensively but want to be sure that what they are buying is what they really need," Baker wrote. "And as interoperability concerns grow, retail storefronts will remain the most productive place to display and sell the consumer on the benefits of technology."
As someone who's laptop just kicked the bucket, I'd certainly like to see a retail store that can offer an adequate selection for trying before buying. The netbook selection at Best Buys around Los Angeles is pretty bare-bones.
