“We surveyed nearly 3500 readers and shopped 15 stores and sites to find out which ones have the smartest salespeople, lowest prices, and widest selection,” Anne Kandra writes for PCWorld. “We decided to test the tech savviness of retail sales staff and Web sites, to find out how helpful they are at giving you the information you need. So we surveyed customers, interviewed store managers and employees, studied retail sites, and did some undercover shopping. Our goal? To help you locate the advice you need to make an informed decision–without quitting your day job or resorting to prescription painkillers.”
The verdict? What do you think?
Kandra continues, “Mac fans, start gloating. If there’s a clear winner in our survey results, it’s Apple. Some 63 percent of survey respondents who had visited The Apple Store rated the overall quality of its buying advice a 6 or 7. (The next-closest brick-and-mortar retailer in this category was Circuit City, with ratings of 6 or 7 from a relatively meager 35 percent of visiting respondents.) Apple Store shoppers rated the retailer particularly high in ease of finding buying advice (nearly 70 percent rated it a 6 or 7), and over 70 percent gave it top marks for providing sufficient information to make a buying decision. Apple’s Web store fared nearly as well as its retail outlets: About 69 percent of its shoppers rated its technical information easy to understand, and almost 60 percent said the site provided enough information for them to make a buying decision. From my own experience at an Apple Store, I can easily see why the company did so well.”
Much more in the full PCWorld article here.
MacDailyNews Take: You know that storm brewing on the horizon? That really dark, big one that started forming over Redmond? It’s spreading and getting worse. And it seems like its growing thunder rumblings are causing a lot of people to wake up after a long, unproductive slumber.