Business

Best Buy Is Going Out Of Business

24 Comments

Gradually:

I’m not shilling for Amazon or any other successful online retailer here. My point is much more basic. Amazon neither invented nor appropriated its basic strategies from Best Buy or anyone else. It simply does what consumers want. Best Buy does what would be most convenient for the company for consumers to want but don’t, then crosses its fingers and prays. That’s not a strategy –- or not a winning strategy, in any case, now that retail consumers aren’t stuck with the store closest to home.

I’ve never liked Best Buy. It was a shame that they lost competition when Circuit City went under. My only real brick and mortar alternative now is Fry’s, which has its own problems.

24 thoughts on “Best Buy Is Going Out Of Business”

  1. Yes, natural selection at work in the marketplace.

    I stopped going to Best Buy when I got tired of constantly having to look to find someone with the time to wait on me. I knew what I wanted, but they just were too busy trying to selling folks who had no clue what they wanted to open the case so I could take the item to the register to pay for it. So I just went next door to Office Depot to buy it.

    This happened three times in the local Best Buy. Three strikes and you are out, and you become a story of poor service I share with my marketing students.

    1. They never stop asking me if i need help, no matter how many times i say no. Pushy is a good enough adjective.

  2. Another annoying thing about Best Buy: line length. Their policy seems to be to add another cashier when the line length reaches fifteen or so.

    I rarely go there any more for that reason alone, but the high costs relative to online and a rather small selection of computer goods means that it isn’t too attractive.

    Fry’s is better, though Pricewatch and Amazon have cut into my shopping there.

  3. The service is great at my local BB, but the selection is nowhere near Fry’s. I stop at BB first — if they have what I need, I get home quicker. The Fry’s by Rand has the Parking Lot From Hell, but the one in the OC is great, and the joint is literally next to the freeway.

  4. I could have predicted this. I just bought a couple of electronic items at BB this Christmas, along with two-year guarantees.* The last time I did that was at Circuit City, two months before they went belly-up.

    [*normally don’t do this, but both items are of a type that easily get broken in normal use]

  5. I guess I better use that gift card that’s been hanging around…

    The author of the article mentioned almost in passing (and granted it’s not a major point, I suspect, in BB’s predicted demise) his experience with the clerk pushing CinemaNow. That’s one thing you don’t get with amazon, or as far as I can tell any other online buying – retail ambush. I first encountered this in Sears, several years ago – “Hi, wanna buy some vinyl siding?,” when I’m just trying to get from the entrance to housewares – but it’s spread to Sam’s Club (DirecTV, I think the guy is pushing) and even Lowe’s (want an estimate on vinyl siding?).

    1. Yeah, I had DirecTV sales guys come up to me in BestBuy. They’re uniform is blue polo like BestBuy, so I think they actually might help. Then I get, “I can’t really help you, but how would you like to get DirecTV?”. If I went into the store to purchase something in computers, it’s doubtful that I will impulse buy a year long commitment for a television system.

  6. What annoyed me is the rebates. I don’t do rebates. As a result Best Buy just wasn’t competitive price-wise.

    1. The draw is (was?) the convenience. If it saves a schlep to Fry’s, it’s worth it. If it’s big-ticket, I’m already buying it from newegg/provantage/tigerdirect to begin with.

  7. Hmm. I was in Best Buy over the weekend because I decided it was finally time to equip the downstairs big-screen TV with a dedicated Blu-ray player, now that prices are under $100 (we’ve been hauling the kids’ PS3 up and down stairs). I picked out a Panasonic BD75 ($60 on Amazon) and found one at Best Buy. But they wanted $100. I told them that I could order it from Amazon for $60 but if they wanted to sell me one for $70, I would take the deal. They wouldn’t budge, not even $10, much less $30, saying only that they didn’t price-match Amazon, only local retailers. I told them I wasn’t asking for a match, but I wasn’t going to pay $40 for the prestige of walking out with a blue bag.

    I really think they are not going to be around in five years.

  8. Up here in Canuckistan they bought out Future Shop which was a similar big, made-in-Canada electronics chain (there was discussion at the time whether Future Shop would buy Best Buy rather than vice-versa). They still run the stores under the original brand names, sometimes in the same mall, and sell slightly different products – not sure how they manage that. If Best Buy goes down there will be a big hole in retail electronics here. I kind of look forward to that, I think the market will end up going back to the small boutique shops of the 70’s but with online retailers like Amazon to keep prices in line. Might be the best of both worlds.

  9. Amazon has sub 10% margins (Maybe even sub 2%)
    No boutique can possibly survive on that margin.
    Also here in the peoples republic of CA, there is an 8 to 9% diff just in paying Sales tax. My guess is eventually Amazon will be forced to reveal individual customer orders to the sales and use tax authorities and they will then send individuals use tax bills. When you get two years of sales tax as one pay now or go to jail letter the sheep will suddenly wake up and realize how much they are actually paying and revolt. The current situation can not stand.

  10. Last time, over a year ago, I was in BB, the rap music was so loud I couldn’t hear what the sales people were yelling at me. And I think because I look older than 18, no one wanted to wait on me anyway. Haven’t been back, don’t miss it. I do miss being able to go into an electronics store and have an intelligent conversation with a sales dweeb who actually knew the difference between a transistor and a resistor.

  11. In my area, there’s a Fry’s and a Best Buy less than half a mile apart. Obviously, there’s a fair amount of overlap between their inventories, but there’s a bunch of stuff that Fry’s carries that BB does not, and in general Fry’s inventory is much deeper than BB. Price-wise, I haven’t noticed much difference between them.

    But, on the occasions when I need to go to a brick-and-mortar store, I will only go to Fry’s first when I know exactly what I want. Fry’s is such an unmitigated customer service disaster that I hate to set foot in there. The local BB is much calmer, and I generally don’t have to worry about accidentally getting an already opened box (a real problem at Fry’s). Of course, the number of electronic things that I need to visit a brick-and-mortar store for is declining rapidly, though…

  12. There is a hunger in our country for stores that don’t suck. People will flock to them if they can get the human factors right, and the prices are competitive for the quality of the product.

    2. Ditto for Costco. Product selection is adequate, prices are good, there is a decent return policy and they don’t waste your time with excessive coupons or deals with complex conditions. Consequently it’s a better place to shop than almost anywhere else.

  14. BB is the worst case example for modern business in my experience. Unfortunately, they are also quite typical.

    Beyond spending a Gift Card for stuff I wanted not needed, I have never found BB to be of any use. Their ‘associates’ never know anything I ask about. Or you tell them you’re looking for “X” product, and they hand you something similar, but not right, and then argue that it will ‘work’.

    My question for BB upper mngmnt types with hire and fire powers, is the same for BB as it is for 99.999% of the businesses out there I must deal with right now. With all the people out of work right now, WHY oh WHY, are you keeping THESE particular schlubs!?

    Why not fire the guy I complained about who tried to sell me DVD+R discs, when I needed and asked for DVD-R discs. He’s wrong, they won’t ‘work’ just as well. Hire someone who knows the difference, or someone who will read the BOX I’m holding from the other end of your store.

    I had almost the same experience while looking for a set of video / audio cables. Yes the 10′ cable WILL work, but I need a 4′ cable, and it’s cheaper, and I’m out shopping anyway, so why CAN’T you call the other store to see if they have the 4′ cable?

    How can the associate be too busy to help me, while he’s already helping me? I waited MY turn for help to get what I needed, so the people behind me can wait until I’ve been helped completely.

    I feel no true remorse at their demise. They grew the problem, let ’em harvest it too.

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