Apple has topped the list in a RetailWire/Dechert-Hampe survey ranking retail stores for the best shopping experience. Stores were ranked on: satisfaction experience and customer satisfaction, product assortment, and price.

Respondents to the survey rated the Apple retail store as well above all others as the retailer delivering the best shopping experience. According to Ben Ball, senior vice president, Dechert-Hampe, some might question how the research could show technology being down on the list of ways to improve the shopping experience when Apple, a store that totally revolves around the use and sale of technology, tops the list of retailers that get it.

"People are underestimating Apple's mastery of the fundamentals," he says. "If it were just the technology, Circuit City and CompUSA would have been on this list instead of in Chapter 11. I think the ability to experience the products that Apple provides; the knowledgeable brand advocates that are there in the store; the encouragement to have you be completely immersed in the technology and the applications; the product themselves; and right down to the customer service provided by the Genius Bar are all outstanding examples of Apple understanding and really maximizing the fundamentals of the shopper experience. Now they are also using technology because that's their product to do it in a very differentiated way."

This survey was fielded in February by Dechert-Hampe Consulting. This was an internet survey covering the RetailWire community and other industry participants. The survey results are a composite of data from 479 responses.