Room to improve in electronics

Based on finding in the July issue of PC World, Target lags behind Amazon.com and Best Buy when it comes to the electronics department, but ahead of Walmart and RadioShack.

The publication’s July issue features a cover story called “Best Places to Buy” that explores 10 retailers and six product categories including desktop PCs, laptops, cameras, HDTVs, hard drives and printers. Out of 10 retailers examined, Target’s weakest showing came in the printer and desktop PC categories where it was ranked ninth. Target was ranked sixth in the HDTV and camera categories and seventh in the laptop and hard-drive categories. Other retailers included in the study were Newegg, CDW, Staples, Walmart, TigerDirect and Sears.

In conducting the study, PC World relied heavily on Internet research to assess online assortments and 200 phone calls to stores in such cities as Boston, Denver, Phoenix, Memphis, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. An undisclosed number of store visits were also conducted in Brooklyn, Chicago, Houston, Jacksonville, Seattle and the San Francisco suburbs of Fairfield and Vallejo. The study was weighted toward selection, online and in stores, return policies, shopping experience and the quality of responses to phone inquiries. Price was not mentioned as a factor.