Best Buy sells almost as many iPhones as Apple sells directly.
According to a study completed by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) and reported on AllThingsD, 13% of all iPhones sold in the US are bought from Best Buy. 15% are bought directly from Apple.
The major carriers account for the bulk of iPhone sales. AT&T handles 32% of all US iPhone purchases. Verizon comes in a close second with 30% of the market. Sprint just accounts for 7%.
“Apple Stores and the Apple Web site are tremendously productive, but they are limited by their relatively small retail footprint. There are four times as many Best Buy stores, and probably 20 times as many AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint stores, so aggressive distribution through all these channels is critical to Apple’s U.S. strategy,” CIRP Partner and Co-Founder Josh Lowitz told AllThingsD.
CIRP’s study also found that 76% of iPhones were purchased in brick and mortar stores. 24% of sales were attributed to online purchases.