Best Places to Buy

Retail Store Experience

Crumbling Bricks and Mortar

Except for The Apple Store, none of the retail stores scored well in our survey. Like their online counterparts, Staples and CompUSA earned the lowest scores, with top ratings in overall quality of buying advice from only 28 and 30 percent, respectively, of surveyed customers.

Best Buy (34 percent) and Circuit City (35 percent) didn't fare much better on the same measure, though about 45 percent of respondents rated both of those stores highly for their ability to provide easy-to-understand technical information.

The complaint we heard most often--especially from readers who were Best Buy and CompUSA customers--was that finding help from retail salespeople was too hard. Mike Malesevich, an IT consultant from Ontario, Canada, gave this account of a trip to Best Buy: "I waited for more than 30 minutes to speak with a sales associate and finally left without talking to anyone. Another time, I held a camera for over 20 minutes, and no one wanted to serve me. Needless to say, I left."

Our own in-store experiences were similar. I paid three visits to two different New Hampshire Best Buy stores before I found a salesperson available to answer my questions about HDTVs--and then I had to return twice after that visit to discuss digital cameras and computers. (One Sunday afternoon, I tried to ask a salesman about a wide-screen television while pursuing him through the store; he finally advised me to come back on a weekday, "when the store isn't so busy.")

I mentioned this trend to several company representatives, who readily acknowledged the problem. Kevin Cockett, a spokesperson at Best Buy, says that the retailer has tried to address that issue over the past few years by placing more sales associates on the floor and by "planning appropriately for peak times throughout the day." More important, he says, has been the goal of "helping customers find the right solution for their needs and lifestyle, not just knowing and articulating what a specific product can do."

Sales Help--Savvy or Clueless?

This segues into another often-heard gripe: Salespeople don't know enough about the products they're selling. Many survey respondents mentioned that they'd received inaccurate or incomplete information from sales staff at retail stores, and many felt that they knew more about the products than the store personnel did.

In most of our store visits, however, we were pleasantly surprised at the quality of information and advice we received. In several cases, salespeople began by asking what we wanted to use the devices for--a good sign. The best salespeople were obviously technology fans themselves. For example, Ryan, a digital camera salesperson at Circuit City in Union, New Jersey, mentioned that he was also a semiprofessional photographer. Who better to sell digital cameras?

But there were exceptions--a few so preposterous that it was hard to keep a straight face. At a southern New Hampshire CompUSA, for example, a cheerfully clueless salesman named Kenny had no idea what I meant when I asked him the resolution of a particular HDTV. When he leaned over and started poking around the back of the unit--presumably hoping to uncover an answer amidst the dust bunnies--I redirected his attention to a wide-screen plasma display. "Oh, you don't want a plasma TV," Kenny assured me. When I asked why not, he explained that I'd be able to watch it for only 4 hours at a time. "After that," he said, "the liquid starts to melt, and you'll end up with leaks--bluish stuff everywhere."

One final tip we picked up on our shopping excursions: Don't ask salespeople about the extended warranty. Read the policy yourself. Time and again, an eager sales representative would exaggerate what the warranty covered, claiming that plastic parts would be replaced or underperforming PCs could be exchanged for upgrades. Few extended warranties go that far. Sometimes, friendly stores will stretch the boundaries of their coverage to lend you a hand, but don't count on receiving any service that's not specified in the warranty.

When stores do go the extra mile to help people out, the appreciative customers are likely to return again and again. Meryl Simon, financial officer for a food distributor in Shaker Heights, Ohio, had a great experience at an Apple Store location. "My daughter dropped her laptop off her bed at college," she says. "I walked it into The Apple Store, and they were wonderful and replaced the broken drive for free, which they didn't have to do. Later I went back and bought two IPods from them."

Keeping Up

According to company representatives, the retailers all use similar methods to train their salespeople and keep them current with products and technologies. Most use online training tools, at least for new hires, and supplement these efforts later with visits from vendors brought in to introduce new product lines. Nevertheless, the extent to which training is regulated and employees are evaluated seems to vary widely by store and location. Usually, training and assessment of employee expertise are left up to each store's sales manager.

John McKeever, director of training at Circuit City, says that all new hires must take at least 32 hours of training, consisting of 12 to 15 online courses with exams and written workbooks. They also participate in sales-floor exercises that require them to identify particular products and specs, answer questions about them, and perform a sales presentation. "We also use a peer-to-peer approach in which each new salesperson has a senior partner to ask questions," McKeever said.

"Our sales managers are responsible for watching and observing associates," he noted. "Does that happen with every sale? Maybe not. But in general, it's been a home run for us."

The best salespeople told us that they kept up with new products and technologies primarily by reading electronics publications and magazines, and by tinkering with the products on their own out of personal interest. It makes sense: Salespeople who enjoy the products they sell are likely to be more effective and informed consultants.

A few salespeople mentioned participating in online training and sales seminars, and one very knowledgeable Best Buy salesman I spoke with said that he'd occasionally been sent to off-site vendor presentations and seminars as a form of recognition for good job performance.

One CompUSA sales manager told me he often sends salespeople to "learning sessions" run by the product vendors. "It's open to anyone on staff," he said enthusiastically, "and they love to go because [the vendors] feed them and pay them $100!"

Who Can You Trust?

If you're looking for digestible buying advice and clearly presented specs, turn to the Web first. You'll find that comparing specs and prices is much easier online. Learn everything you can about the technology you're interested in, from a nonsales source. Then, if you decide to make your final purchase at a retail store, you'll be better prepared to sort the bad buying advice from the good. Visit the retail sites and stores to compare products, prices, service plans, and store policies. Educating yourself as a consumer is worth a lot more than finding the best salesperson.