Best Buy, Walmart Top CE Chains, Survey Finds

More than half of consumers shop for electronics at Best Buy and Walmart, according to new retail rankings report.

Best Buy is standing alone atop the consumer electronics retail mountain.

According to BIGresearch’s March 2009 Retail Ratings Report, nearly 35 percent of consumers prefer to make their electronics purchases at Best Buy. Walmart is second with 20 percent. Both retailers saw gains of 3-to-4 percent over the past year.

Target and Sears rank a distant 3rd and 4th in the survey.

Amazon, Costco, Sam’s Club and Fry’s all experienced positive growth, likely a result of Circuit City’s demise.

“Best Buy and Walmart, with substantial gains in consumer preference share, seem likely to seize the opportunity to court Circuit City’ former customers,” said Pam Goodfellow, Senior Analyst at BIGresearch. “But with the void Circuit City is leaving in the electronics category, watch for retailers like Amazon or Sam’s Club to possibly rise to the occasion in coming months.”

If you break it down by income:

• Households under $50K narrowly favor Walmart (29.4%) to Best Buy (28.7%)
• Households greater than $50K overwhelmingly prefer Best Buy (45%) to Walmart (12%)