PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, November 21, 2005 – According to a new report from The NPD Group, consumer satisfaction with the wireless retail shopping experience is low across the board, with only 24 percent of recent mobile phone purchasers stating that they had an excellent or good experience. While NPD’s survey confirms that the vast majority of mobile phone and service purchases are made at carrier-owned stores, consumers who purchased from other types of stores, including mass merchants and electronics retailers, reported higher levels of satisfaction.

RadioShack and Wal-Mart were the top two retailers in terms of overall shopping experience, and also ranked high in other metrics including helpful sales staff, variety and selection of wireless products, and store layout.

Wireless carriers continue to dominate wireless retail sales, with 68 percent of all purchases made at carrier-owned stores. Even so, this type of store generally ranked lower in satisfaction than other retail channels in all categories. Overall Nextel and Cingular ranked highest among carriers, and T-Mobile and Sprint ranked lowest.

“Carriers are working to improve shopping experience at their stores,” said Clint Wheelock, vice president of wireless research at The NPD Group. “Many new tactics are being implemented, including better educating sales staff, providing self-service computer kiosks and changing store layout and flow to improve the customer shopping experience.”

Mass merchants, electronics stores and wireless specialty stores consistently ranked higher in customer satisfaction than most carrier-owned stores in a variety of areas, including overall satisfaction, knowledge of sales staff, and selection of phones and calling plans.

The majority of consumers surveyed were repeat phone purchasers, with only 14 percent being first-time wireless subscribers. More consumers purchased their device as a replacement for their current phone (39 percent) or a broken one (15 percent), a trend NPD expects to continue into the foreseeable future.

“ While carriers will likely continue to dominate the wireless retail space, opportunities also exist for other types of retailers,” Wheelock said . “Changes in the wireless landscape, such as the emergence of MVNOs and market saturation, could also offer new opportunities for other retail channels.”

Methodology: Data and information contained within this report is derived from several NPD sources: Web-based survey among a nationally-balanced and demographically-representative sample of 2,139 members of NPD’s online consumer panel (age 13 and older); interviews with wireless carriers, handset manufacturers and retailers; market perspectives from NPD Wireless analyst staff. The consumer survey was conducted in September 2005; NPD screened for participants who had visited a store that sold wireless phones in the last three months.

About The NPD Group, Inc.
Since 1967 The NPD Group has provided reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Today more than 1,400 manufacturers and retailers rely on NPD to help them better understand their customers, product categories, distribution channels and competition in order to help guide their business. Information from The NPD Group is available for the following major vertical sectors: apparel, appliances, automotive, beauty, consumer electronics, food and beverage, foodservice, footwear, home improvement, housewares, imaging, information technology, music, software, travel, toys, video games, and wireless. For more information visit www.npd.com.

Source: The NPD Group, Inc.

Source: Wired News