Salespeople Push LCD Over Plasma

Panasonic was the number-one recommended plasma brand, according to a study from J.D. Power and Market Force Information.

A new study says that consumers are hearing outdated and sometimes not enough info, when it comes to choosing a big-screen TV.

A study by J.D. Power and Associates says that electronics salespeople are more likely to push LCD over plasma.

The results, announced today, say that salespeople choose LCD three to one over plasma technology, when shoppers ask about screens 40 inches and larger. More than 30 percent of those salespeople told customers that LCDs last longer, with 37 percent warning of the outdated dangers of “burn in” on plasma TVs.

“While we see that salespeople are aggressively pushing shoppers to LCD sets, it is important for consumers to understand that plasma technology also offers a number of unique advantages—not the least of which is that inch for inch, plasma sets cost less than LCD sets,” said Larry Wu, senior director of the technology practice at J.D. Power and Associates. “In addition, compared with most LCD sets, plasma TVs also display deeper blacks and show fast-moving objects better.”

While many focused on the problems of plasma, most also didn’t pump up the benefits of LCD. For instance, less than 25 percent mentioned that LCD sets weigh less, use less energy, and produce less heat than plasma sets, says the study. However, the recommendation rate for plasma did increase—from 17 percent in Q1 of 2008 to 23 percent in the second quarter.

“The growing rate of plasma recommendations means that plasma TV technology is not likely to fade away anytime soon—as HD DVD technology did recently in favor of Blu-ray Disc technology,” said Wu.

Wu also says that if a customer doesn’t know which brand they want, they will rely on the salesperson’s opinion. As far as LCD brands, Samsung (35 percent) and Sony (28 percent) were the most recommended. Vizio came up 7 percent of the time, with other brands getting no more than 2 percent of the recommendations. For plasma, Panasonic got the most recommendations, at 37 percent, with Samsung (14 percent) and Pioneer (12 percent) trailing.

Finally, the study said that consumers were likely to get better service at specialty retailers, over big-box stores or other mass merchants. Some of those larger retailers gave good customer service, but didn’t have the know-how to answer basic tech questions.

The report was a joint effort by J.D. Power and Associates and Market Force Information. More than 2,000 mystery shoppers measured the knowledge and recommendations of salespeople nationwide.