BIGresearch's December Retail Ratings: Best Buy #1 for Store Shopped Most Often for Electronics

COLUMBUS, OH--(MARKET WIRE)--Jan 8, 2009 -- Best Buy continues to be the store shopped most often for almost one in three consumers for electronics with an overall share of 29.8%, according to BIGresearch's (http://www.bigresearch.com) December 2008 Retail Ratings Report.

Up from 26.6% in December 2007, Best Buy's growth in consumer preference for electronics shopping resulted in a Consumer Equity Index(TM) (CEI)* of 112.21. #2 Walmart's share remained relatively flat year-over-year (17.0% in Dec. 08 v. 17.6% in Dec. 07) with a CEI of 96.39. Third place Circuit City's CEI of 78.44 shows a significant loss in consumer share for the struggling retailer. (*CEI measures growth in share of customer preference year-over-year. An index of 100 is flat, while an index of 105 indicates 5% growth.)

While Amazon's consumer share is comparatively small overall (2.3% of adults 18+ shop there most often for electronics), they did experience significant growth over last year (from 1.4% in Dec. 07). With a CEI of 168.29, Amazon grew more than any other retailer in the electronics category, and the online retailer also performed well among those with household incomes greater than $50,000 (CEI = 207.96).

"Amazon's growth in all segments indicates that they could be a dark horse contender in the future of electronics retailing," said Pam Goodfellow, Senior Analyst at BIGresearch. "It's especially interesting to see that their consumer share more than doubled among the lucrative $50,000+ segment from 1.3% to 2.7%."

BIGresearch's Retail Ratings Reports (RRR) are available monthly for 12 major merchandise categories. They are developed from BIGresearch's monthly Consumer Intentions & Actions (CIA) Survey of over 8,000 online interviews. In addition to income breaks, the RRR are segmented by age and gender. For a sample of the December report for Electronics (all consumers and those with household incomes greater than $50,000), please click the following link: http://info.bigresearch.com/.

About BIGresearch

BIGresearch is a consumer intelligence firm providing solution-based insights of consumer behavior, present and future, in areas of products and services, retail, financial services, automotive and media. BIGresearch conducts the monthly Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey (CIA) of 8,000+ respondents and the semi-annual Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM) of 15,000+ respondents. More information is available at http://www.bigresearch.com.

     Contact:
     Chrissy Wissinger
     BIGresearch
     450 West Wilson Bridge Road
     Suite 370
     Worthington, Ohio 43085
     (614) 846-0146
     Email Contact