An Insiders Look at Best Buy

[gene]

This is an interesting article about the inner workings and failings of Best Buy from a former employee.

The Inside Story: A Prognosis of Best Buy from a Veteran Employee

Where do you think Best Buy is heading?

 

[darien87]

Interesting read. I am a big fan of Best Buy. I've bought multiple TV's, computers and other electronics from them. I think their prices are good and they gave me a credit card a long time ago when my credit wasn't very good. But when I buy from them I usually have already done my research before walking in the door so I don't really need much sales assistance. I would hate to see them go the way of the do-do.

 

[GO-NAD!]

What if they went to a combination B&M/Internet model? Not the present one that they have, but one where the stores only have display/demo models and items are then shipped direct to the customer. Return items could be brought back to the store. They could save the cost of shipping/maintaining stock in-store and require less floorspace. Being able to return items to the store would be an advantage over purely internet direct sellers. Has that been tried before?

 

[Grador]

What if they went to a combination B&M/Internet model? Not the present one that they have, but one where the stores only have display/demo models and items are then shipped direct to the customer. Return items could be brought back to the store. They could save the cost of shipping/maintaining stock in-store and require less floorspace. Being able to return items to the store would be an advantage over purely internet direct sellers. Has that been tried before?

I think the issue with this model is the inability to track how many sales each "store" generates making it really difficult to gauge the effectiveness of each location. Additionally given the level of knowledge of every bestbuy employee I've ever run across they'd still be in trouble with this model.

I have never once seen a bestbuy employee answer a question with "sorry i'm not sure" but on the other hand I have seen them give miserably bad advice constantly.

 

[panteragstk]

What if they went to a combination B&M/Internet model? Not the present one that they have, but one where the stores only have display/demo models and items are then shipped direct to the customer. Return items could be brought back to the store. They could save the cost of shipping/maintaining stock in-store and require less floorspace. Being able to return items to the store would be an advantage over purely internet direct sellers. Has that been tried before?

Pretty interesting idea. The thing that is killing BB isn't the fact that they stock so much (at least that isn't all of it) it is that they have WAY too many stores and their staff isn't trained at all. There is no reason for me to have 3 BB's less than 15min from my house. Convenience is one thing, but that's over-saturation. Circuit City had the same problem. When I worked there their logic was "if we have lots of stores, we'll make more money". They didn't figure in all the overhead (utilities, employee pay, rent, etc.) and it killed them. Even closing stores didn't help because they still were tied in long-term lease contracts. BB is headed down the same path.

However, I think your idea is a very good one. Close the stores that make sense and have them be a showroom only. Do away with all the stupid stuff (instruments and what not) and they'll make money again as long as they have a highly trained staff that is being paid enough to care about their job. Most people looking for electronics above the level of Target and Wal-mart, but not boutique level have a best buy near them, and will gladly shop there as opposed to Amazon if they got decent support before and after the sale. My grandparents aren't going to buy a TV online, but will always go to a best buy as they think that's the place to get a TV.

 

[Hobbit]

I tend to agree. Plus, I'm really confused on where the market is going in this regard. We already lost circuit city and ultimate electronics.

For me having the ability to see and hear the equipment I may buy is a big plus. Furthermore, if I'm buying a big(ger) ticket item I like the ability to drive down the road and be able to return/exchange the item if there's an issue. For this reason I have bought off of Best Buy's web site, and picked it up on the way home nonetheless. Again, if there is a problem I can bring it back to the store. In general BB's prices are in line with the on line retailer, so what gives? There's one nearby wherever you are around here.

Along that same note, it's sad that there's really only one place left in town where I can go demo speakers. And they don't even have a decent selection of brands...

 

[moves]

Best Buy is terrible.... I went to inquire about fixing my Mac desktop and they charge you $80 to re-install the OS; something you can do yourself by the way. I said no thanks. I went to the Apple store, and guess what.... they fix ALL software problems for FREE..... SCrew best buy. The Apple tech that I had used to work at BB and he said that management even charge for verbal advice. WHAT? even if they don't do work on your computer, they will try to charge you. This is why the tech left. His boss caught him NOT charging people for advice and he argued the point. In the end, he left.

Best Buy SUCKS!

 

[Hobbit]

Best Buy is terrible.... I went to inquire about fixing my Mac desktop and they charge you $80 to re-install the OS; something you can do yourself by the way. I said no thanks. I went to the Apple store, and guess what.... they fix ALL software problems for FREE..... SCrew best buy. The Apple tech that I had used to work at BB and he said that management even charge for verbal advice. WHAT? even if they don't do work on your computer, they will try to charge you. This is why the tech left. His boss caught him NOT charging people for advice and he argued the point. In the end, he left.

Best Buy SUCKS!

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!! It sounds to me more like your mac sucks! If you listen to all the hype, you should have never to do this in the first place. You should get rid of your mac and get a pc. I've never had to reinstall an operating system on any pc I've owned. But, yes you are fortunate apple charges enough up front to afford to pay someone to fix their problems (though I hear they don't have any).

And of course, I can do anything myself when I have the time and inclination. Furthermore, I take anything an employee doing the same thing somewhere else says about their former employee with a grain of salt. That's like believing one parties version of their bitter divorce....

 

[cpp]

The problem with Best Buy is that they lost their original focus and went nuts selling anything and everything to include cokes, candy etc.... and then hired kids that knew nothing about their products or their inventory. Too big to fast, no direction, no focus which is a perfect example of cooperate greed and a failed operating plan.

 

[gmichael]

Four years ago, I was looking to have a remote starter installed into my wife's
car. I went into BB and asked the pimply faced kid there to give me a price.
Even though he was working in the department where the sold and installed them,
he acted like he had never heard of it. 45 minutes and 5 other employees later,
they finally quoted a price that was 3 times higher than anyone else. Guess who
didn't get my business.

 

[lsiberian]

Problem for Best Buy is they are B&M. B&M doesn't work in electronics anymore.

 

[Grador]

Not really a "problem" with them, but something I found amusing. The bestbuy next to me sells open box items with an amazing 5-10% discount. This went to an amazingly hilarious new level when they were trying to sell an open box display model of an SLR camera body for 10 whole percent off. This camera body had been sitting on a counter for months with no lens, sensor completely open to all the dust. I saw some poor chap actually decide to purchase it.

 

[The Chukker]

The problem with Best Buy is that they lost their original focus and went nuts selling anything and everything to include cokes, candy etc.... and then hired kids that knew nothing about their products or their inventory. Too big to fast, no direction, no focus which is a perfect example of cooperate greed and a failed operating plan.

^ This

I used to shop regularly at Magnolia Hi-Fi here in south Seattle (before Best Buy in their wisdom closed the store). Always appreciated the good service I received there -- knowledgeable staff unafraid to give me many options yet aware I knew just as much as they did so the sales pitch was perhaps dialed down a notch or two. As a salesman myself I know there is a delicate balance between being proactively informative and being pushy.
Although the parent company of Magnolia Hi-Fi, Best Buy has none of the attributes that made shopping at Magnolia a wonderful experience.

 

[darien87]

I used to shop regularly at Magnolia Hi-Fi here in south Seattle (before Best Buy in their wisdom closed the store). Always appreciated the good service I received there -- knowledgeable staff unafraid to give me many options yet aware I knew just as much as they did so the sales pitch was perhaps dialed down a notch or two. As a salesman myself I know there is a delicate balance between being proactively informative and being pushy.
Although the parent company of Magnolia Hi-Fi, Best Buy has none of the attributes that made shopping at Magnolia a wonderful experience.

I bought my VR 2's and a Boston sub at a Magnolia in San Jose. I got a great deal on the VR2's as they were demo speakers, but the sub left a little to be desired. When I decided I wanted a better sub, I spoke to the same salesman and said, "I need a better sub. This one barely hits 30hz." His response was "Really?". What do you mean "Really?", you sold me the thing.

I also noticed a box of some "high quality" silver component video cables and a guy there tried to tell me how the cable was so good that it made the picture look almost 3D. Gimme a break.

I loved Magnolia too, but just like anywhere else if you got a bad salesperson your experience was completely different than when you got a good one.

 

[moves]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!! It sounds to me more like your mac sucks! If you listen to all the hype, you should have never to do this in the first place. You should get rid of your mac and get a pc. I've never had to reinstall an operating system on any pc I've owned. But, yes you are fortunate apple charges enough up front to afford to pay someone to fix their problems (though I hear they don't have any).

And of course, I can do anything myself when I have the time and inclination. Furthermore, I take anything an employee doing the same thing somewhere else says about their former employee with a grain of salt. That's like believing one parties version of their bitter divorce....

You obviously need to do some research.... Microsoft is a bunch of junk. You never needed to run a adware scan or complained because your SW runs slow on your PC? PCs are cheap for a reason! The parts are better on a Mac, you can trouble shoot your problems a lot more compared to a PC, you can keep your Mac booted up for weeks without it taking a crap on your desk when you try to wake it up. You don't need anti virus SW which you need to renew and which bogs down your system. The entire back end on a mac is so much more powerful than a PCs... It's not built on... DOS but rather a unix/linux background. My Mac doesn't suck. It's a 2007 and it's been in the shop once because it started running slow. How many of you PC users out there can say the same?

 

[moves]

Oh.... They rip you off as well..... What the hell are they doing trying to sell a $50 HDMI cable when you can get one for $10 bucks and Canada Computers. They take advantage of the costumer. The problem is that the people who shop there don't know any better than to buy the $50 cable.

 

[slipperybidness]

I'll at least tip the scales back to the positive side a little bit for BB (Magnolia)

About 5 years ago, I needed a new receiver so I went to BB and Fry's to look around.

Turns out the BB Magnolia had a couple of nice receivers that were about what I wanted, but "display" models. I spent a good hour in the Magnolia, listening to receivers (heck, even some and some speakers that I had no intention to purchase) and BS'ing with the salesman. I purchased my current Pio Elite that day.

Turns out they had a "display" unit that was returned to the store b/c the person bought it and when BB went to install it he realized it "only had 3 HDMI" inputs (which was plenty for most people 5 years ago). They had it without the box, but with the remote. It had some price on it but with a $150 BB gift card comes with purchase. Well, he said he couldn't do anything to lower the price, but he could bump that $150 up to $300 on a BB card. SOLD. I don't remember all the details, but I ended up paying maybe $1100 for the unit, remote, tax, 3 year extended warranty etc. and a $300 gift card. So, in all reality I paid $800 for a new unit without the box and had another $300 for my next BB visit. The MSRP at the time was $1200. Score!

But, you say I missed out on the calibration mic, the ipod cable, the accessories. Nope. I went home and pulled up the manual online and saw what was all included in a new system. I really wanted that iPod cable, so I went back the next day, found the same guy, and explained that I understood that I wasn't really entitled to the cable in the deal, but maybe he could take a look in the back. He comes back in about 10 minutes with a brown envelope filled with every accessory that would be with the new system.

On a side note, I was interested in the HK brand and asked his opinion. He said "it's kind of silly, but I never liked the feel of the volume knobs on the HKs, just feels kind of cheap". Guess what, I was looking for a new unit because my volume knob went out on my old unit. That steered me clear of those HKs!

The bottom line, you can't just condemn BB, a lot of the customer experience is hit or miss, finding the person that knows at least a little something and doesn't mind working with the customer.

 

[Grador]

The bottom line, you can't just condemn BB, a lot of the customer experience is hit or miss, finding the person that knows at least a little something and doesn't mind working with the customer.

There are good people, those willing to actually help you and have a little knowledge. It's great you found one and it is great to hear there are some people out there. But I can still condemn BB over this since they create an environment that doesn't foster this at all. They show very little interest in hiring quality people or training people such that they can provide quality service.

 

[KEW]

The biggest problem I see with "See in store, buy on-line" is if your customer goes to the computer to order, they might find a better price from NewEgg, Amazon, B&H Photo, etc.
Anyone who has returned stuff to Amazon knows how easy that is, so being able to return to the store is not that big of a carrot, IMHO.

I wonder how Frys is faring. They have not over-saturated the market. Their sales people have not impressed me in the audio department, though I know a couple of people who know their stuff in the computer section.

 

[slipperybidness]

The biggest problem I see with "See in store, buy on-line" is if your customer goes to the computer to order, they might find a better price from NewEgg, Amazon, B&H Photo, etc.
Anyone who has returned stuff to Amazon knows how easy that is, so being able to return to the store is not that big of a carrot, IMHO.

I wonder how Frys is faring. They have not over-saturated the market. Their sales people have not impressed me in the audio department, though I know a couple of people who know their stuff in the computer section.

I think Fry's is in a little better shape. I have always had a little more confidence in their employees, but again, more in the computer department.

Fry's hasn't over-saturated their market. Austin has 1. Houston had 1, but I think they might have 2 now. Houston, a big a$$ city, 1 Fry's store!

Also, Fry's has the market for the hobbyist that used to belong to Radio Shack. Computer components, electronics, and project stuff too, a different ballgame, a leap ahead of BB in catering to what the customers want.