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Technology changes everything it touches, and no industry knows this better than retail. Over the past two decades, e-commerce has revolutionized nearly every aspect of shopping. Businesses that lasted decades in malls and storefronts are now long gone, due to the mass shift to online shopping. Today, according to the National Retail Federation, Amazon is the number two retailer in the US in terms of sales, behind the behemoth Walmart.
Traditional retail businesses with physical storefronts that have survived face an uphill battle. If they don’t keep up with tech options for their customers, they are in danger of being left behind.
"Buy online, pickup in-store" (BOPIS), which merges e-commerce with in-person purchase pickups (eliminating shipping costs), is now a significant trend: 34% of US customers used BOPIS in 2024, and this figure is projected to grow at an annual rate of 16.7% through 2030. The "buy now, pay later" (BNPL) option, under which consumers purchase goods immediately and then pay for them in installments, has also altered the shopping landscape—half of Americans have tried it.
New selling challenges for retailers create new shopping opportunities for consumers. “New iPhone releases feel like red-letter days, while seasonal retail sales events, such as the upcoming Prime Big Deal Days, have become bona fide shopping holidays in line with Black Friday and Cyber Monday,” says PCMag shopping and deals editor John Mihaly.
“In fact, last Prime Day, shoppers found that electronics, more than any other category, offered the best deals, according to research I've seen from consumer research outfit Stackline," he adds. "From where I sit, it's easier than ever to find solid money-saving deals thanks to online comparison shopping and price-tracking apps.”
In an effort to learn more about shopping habits in the 2020s, we ask you, our readers, where you purchase PCs, phones, and other consumer electronics. Do you stick solely to online shopping, prefer brick-and-mortar stores where you can browse, or is it a mix of both? Do you shop at big box stores, buy directly from the manufacturer, or from mobile carriers’ outlets?
In our third annual survey on the best places to buy tech, 25 retailers qualify for inclusion. Read on to see which ones our readers love best.
The Best Tech Retailers for 2025
The Best Retailers Overall (Online and Brick-and-Mortar Stores Combined)
In our survey, each store can compete as both an online e-commerce retailer and a brick-and-mortar store; each shopping experience generates its own set of scores, evaluated on different criteria. Additionally, each experience earns its own overall satisfaction rating and likelihood-to-recommend rating.
A select few stores, represented in this first chart, have scores for both online and brick-and-mortar shopping. We combine those and weigh them based on the number of responses for each (online versus offline). This way, we can better determine the playing field of retailers that excel at both.
When we combine online and brick-and-mortar shopping, we see a tie between last year's sole winner, Micro Center, a chain with 29 locations across 19 states, and Apple.
Micro Center has the highest recommendation score. The chain is especially hot with the PCMag audience that likes to build their own computers. “Great selection of components,” says one respondent. “No one matches Micro Center for the off-the-wall stuff a tech lover needs.”
Another praises the people who work there. “If I truly have tech questions or need a recommendation, I go to Micro Center," they say. "Their staff is made up of actual tech people who are knowledgeable about the products in-store. If I want advice and consultative service, Micro Center is the only place I rely on.”
One major complaint among some Micro Center fans is that they wish the physical store were closer to them.
Meanwhile, the Apple Store’s combined online/offline ratings equal Micro Center’s for overall satisfaction. Apple is a tenth of a point behind Micro Center in terms of likelihood to recommend. The brand makes up for this with high ratings for product quality, ease of use on the site, the online checkout process, and the quality of online product descriptions and images.
(Note: Click the arrows in our interactive charts to view various elements of our survey results.)
Readers have strong feelings about the Apple Store experience. They don’t like the sometimes long lines, but they appreciate the knowledgeable staff. “Apple Store provides unmatched customer help years after policies expire,” one survey respondent says.
Another says they appreciated an Apple sale that beat an education discount. “Recently bought a phone, tablet, and laptop for two students for college," they say. "The Apple Store beat the school discount by $100 on every device.”
“Big sales on Apple products tend to be rare, even more so in-store,” PCMag’s Mihaly says. “When we track them online, we find that they rarely land above the 20% sale price threshold of what we would generally consider a 'quality' deal. But that also makes it much easier to know when you’re getting the absolute lowest price you can, often during Black Fridays and Prime Days.”
In 2024, Costco came in second to Micro Center for combination online-plus-brick-and-mortar retail, but this time it falls to third place. However, Costco wins our Readers’ Choice awards in several subcategories; readers appreciate its exceptional return policy, membership/club plan (which surpasses Amazon Prime), and competitive pricing. Last year’s winner when it came to price, Temu, is way down on the list this year, likely due to tariff-related issues.
The Best Online Retailers
When we look at the vendors with online store ratings, the list expands significantly. And, for the third year in a row, the pure e-commerce win goes to B&H Photo Video, which specializes in photography and video technology but sells everything tech. (B&H still has a single New York City brick-and-mortar location, which dates to 1973.)
"B&H is like a candy store for photographers, and sells almost every kind of consumer tech too, including computers, components, and home theater equipment," says Jim Fisher, PCMag's photo and video reviewer. "I have some personal insight, as I worked at B&H before coming to PCMag. While I've been here for 14 years, I still go to B&H because I know firsthand that its customer service and support are unmatched.”
Survey respondents concur. One calls B&H “the platinum standard for online shopping.” Others hail the online store as “trustworthy.” The only minuses generally listed are that it closes for many holidays—even online—and the shipping costs aren’t cheap.
B&H has the top marks for satisfaction and recommendation, as well as high scores for payment options (it offers its own Payboo credit card to offset New York State sales tax), the ease of use of its site, and user product reviews. Meanwhile, B&H ties for high ratings for customer service (with Crutchfield), product selection (with Apple and Micro Center), and mobile shopping overall (with Amazon, Apple, and Staples).
Other online store standouts include Logitech and Apple’s dotcoms, which tie with an 8.9 overall satisfaction score, though that’s well behind B&H’s 9.2. Third and fourth place go to Crutchfield, the audio and video retailer, and Amazon, respectively.
Amazon, meanwhile, earns a handful of Readers’ Choice awards this year, thanks to stellar scores for shipping speed and cost, as well as its overall shopping cart and checkout experience. Amazon is our winner for top online-only store, being one of the few competitors—along with brands like eBay, Newegg, and Temu—that have no brick-and-mortar stores. (Sorry, the Amazon-owned Whole Foods doesn’t count.)
The Best Brick-and-Mortar Retailers
For the third consecutive year, Micro Center reigns supreme in the in-store shopping experience. It also has the highest likelihood of recommendation score, another one of our top criteria in narrowing down a winner. Micro Center’s physical stores also receive top scores in customer service and product selection.
“Micro Center's got everything I need for my weekend projects,” PCMag writer and editorial producer Francisco La Hoz says, “and when I eventually realize I'm in over my head, helpful staff who are willing to share what they know with me.”
However, Micro Center isn’t alone in making people happy when shopping locally. Costco leads in pricing and return policy (it’s hard to beat a no-receipt-needed 90-day return on electronics). And Apple is well ahead in product quality.
Retailer Ratings by Store Type
Retail is a complicated business. General retailers sell products from archrivals side by side on the shelf. Yet those rivals (for example, Apple and Samsung) can operate their own individual stores to bolster their respective bottom lines. Some stores are just for a certain type of product or service (like the thousands of outlets in the US run by mobile carriers). Below, we pit direct competitors against each other to choose winners in each category.
The Best Manufacturer Store
It’s not a surprise that Apple has dominated this category for the last couple of years. It’s renowned for the quality of its stores in malls and more unique spots (like New York's Grand Central Terminal or the one near Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino). The quality of its products keeps the Apple.com website ranked high in terms of traffic (according to Semrush, it’s the 35th most visited site in the US).
This year, Apple’s combined scores for offline and online stores equal 8.9 for satisfaction, tying it with Logitech.com, maker of top-flight PC and phone peripherals. But Logitech gets the higher recommendation rating, thus earning it the award for top manufacturer store this year.
“I like the brand a lot,” one survey respondent says of Logitech, “and their online store makes it easy to lose track of your spending.”
Apple still maintains strong numbers in most subcategories, particularly in customer service and product quality. Likewise, Amazon performs well here, coming in third while ranking tops in payment options, product selection, return policy, and more.
The Best Mobile Carrier Store
For the last two years, T-Mobile has dominated carrier stores. Last year, it was over half a point ahead of the competition from Verizon’s and AT&T’s stores.
This year, all three mobile carrier stores saw an increase in overall satisfaction. But Verizon’s increase—over a full point—puts it ahead of T-Mobile for the first time, earning it this year’s Readers’ Choice.
The two brands share the same likelihood to recommend, and tie when it comes to other factors such as product selection, availability, and quality. Their online shopping and checkout experience are also tied. Verizon leads in shipping speed, mobile shopping, and product descriptions and depictions on the website. T-Mobile still has an edge on customer service and pricing. AT&T stores are a distant third.
The Best Big Box Store
Defining what makes a retail outlet a big box store comes down to the “big” aspect. They tend to be cavernous in size and offer a massive, disparate selection of products.
Our big box competition sees many head-to-head competitors, including Lowe’s and Home Depot, Target and Walmart, Staples and Office Depot, and Best Buy and Micro Center.
Micro Center’s recommendation score is a full point ahead of the rest (Target is the second most recommended brand), and almost that far ahead in terms of overall satisfaction (where Staples is number two).
This represents a significant shift from last year, when Lowe's led the rest. Its score dropped in the intervening months, but even if its overall satisfaction had stayed the same, it couldn’t beat Micro Center.
Full Results
The PCMag Readers’ Choice survey for Tech Retailers was in the field from June 11 to Sept. 7, 2025. For more information on how we conduct surveys, read our methodology.
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