In a new study whose findings likely will not come as a big shock to many industry observers, more than 75 percent of salespeople surveyed said they typically steer customers to a LCD HD sets over plasma screens.
The J.D. Power and Associates survey, released this week, gives indications that salespeople on the front lines with consumers often are either misinformed about the products they are selling, or woefully out-of-date on their subject matter.
For example, nearly 40 percent of sales clerks said they routinely warn customers that images can ‘burn into” plasma screens—something that is extremely hard to accomplish with today’s models under the worst of circumstances, and which has not been a serious concern of set makers or plasma owners for several years.
Aside from the survey’s findings, J.D. Power execs say the longevity of plasma displays, in reality, now appears to be pretty much even with LCD (although it’s still a bit too early to conclude with any certainty which technology may have greater staying power over the long haul, apart from anecdotal evidence).
And while LCD does allow for a lighter unit which takes a bit less power to operate in this increasingly green-conscious world, few salespeople surveyed admitted to using these bona fide reasons to favor LCD.
More LCD models sell today than plasma, and at least one major manufacturer (Sony) recently halted its plasma assembly lines in favor of concentrating on LCD units.
The Powers report, which targeted sets of 40 inches and larger, was based upon the walk-in experiences of more than 2,000 “mystery shoppers” during the first half of 2008.
