Buzz: You Know It When You Don’t Hear It

Best Buy’s arrogance starts @ HQ & rolls through the stores. From store managers to their blue shirts, they act like their you know what does not stink. The only hope for BB is to expand into other categories outside of CE & appliances. After all, their name is Best Buy, which means a BB on just about anything consumers can purchase. Look for them to really pull back on physical media. I don’t buy media unless it’s digital & neither do my kids or their friends. DVD’s & CD’s are as dead as disco. Speaking of arrogance, that was the same issue w/ Ultimate. Pride comes before the fall. There’s an opportunity for somebody to create a new CE retail concept that goes to school on the customer service of Apple, Starbucks & Southwest Airlines. Love your customers & they will love you back. After all, you catch a lot more bees with honey than you do with salt.

Bill-

Great points. The excitement in the Best Buy stores is at an all time low. There used to be staff that LOVED the products, loved working for Best Buy and the enthusiasm showed. Today, not so much. Hopefully Best Buy can re-invent themselves. Probably will take a significant shake up in management to do it and some true “fresh” thinking. From the vendor community, they are an absolute pain the ass to do business with. The arrogance, demands and constant sourcing of their “own” brands pushes the suppliers to look for other alternatives. Good luck boys in Minneapolis, you are going to need it.

Here is my spin on the Buzz. Best Buy doesn’t have the buzz because Apple has kept all the buzz to themselves. Apple has developed a go to market strategy where they are in total control of their products. They control everything from the design of their products to the point of sale. Yes, Best Buy sells Apple products. But Apple is not dependent on them to get the product to the end consumer. Apple has the leverage. When Best Buy comes to Apple demanding an exclusive or better margins Steve Jobs has had the leverage to tell them to kiss his bottom. Best Buy had 3D TV first, they had Sony google TV first, they get the non Apple tablets first. If those products hadn't flopped at roll out then Best Buy would be in a lot better position. Basically, Best Buy has been cut out of Millions of dollars in sales and profits because of Apple's go to market strategy. The next time Apple rolls out a new product who do you think is going to get the exclusive deals, who do you think is going to get the inventory when it is in short supply, the Apple stores or Best Buy?

Best Buy's whole business is tied directly to physical media. You go in to buy a CD, a DVD, Blu-Ray, or video game, and hopefully, you will drop by the computer or home theater sections and pick up some new hardware while you are at it. With the rapid decline of physical media, people have less and less reason to visit a brick and mortar store!
They have tried and tried to redefine the company...changing to "solution based" floor plans for their stores...adding Magnolia "Store within a store" for higher end purchases (which DESTROYED the Magnolia brand, by the way), and making a bloody mess out of their online presence. However, ALL of these changes have failed miserably. In the end, they are still the "Big Box Mart" of electronics, selling commodity items that can be found for less on the internet, and relying on a dying industry centered on providing you with a shiny five inch disc.
Its too late for Best Buy. They had their time in the sun, and now its time for the next thing...whatever that may be. In 5 years, we will be talking about layoffs and store closures. In 10, we will be talking about Best Buy the same way we now talk about Ultimate Electronics, Tweeter, Good Guys and about a dozen others. RIP Best Buy...it was good while it lasted!

Bill,

I think you are right on with this blog. I got to Best Buy on a regular basis (I own a video production company). The way they present product is very boring at the moment. Speaking of your Apple products, they are just lined up, but I couldn’t even find a Mac mini. No one showing the customers an add-on like Final Cut Pro, etc. They need to go with more theme days–video editing workshop, upgrading to satellite radio in your car workshop, 3D tv benefits.

Give customers a reason to stay there awhile.