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Best Buy Closing 50 Stores
An anonymous reader tips news that electronics retailer Best Buy will be closing 50 of its big-box stores across the U.S. this year, and laying off hundreds of corporate workers besides. The company plans to start testing new types of outlets as it tries to adapt to the changing face of retail sales. From the article:
"Best Buy shares were off 7.7% at $24.56 on Thursday afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange. Also Thursday, Best Buy reported a $1.7 billion loss for its fourth quarter ended March 3. ... Consumers armed with mobile phones are increasingly using stores as showrooms to check out merchandise they later purchase for less online, a trend greatly benefiting Internet retailers such as Amazon.com Inc. that aren't encumbered by the costs of running physical locations and in many cases don't have to collect sales tax. Meanwhile Apple Inc.'s phones and tablets, showcased in its own namesake stores, have eroded the status of specialty chains as the one-stop shop for the latest in gadgetry. In response, Best Buy said it will launch large-scale tests of what it calls new 'connected store' formats in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., as well as San Antonio. The stores, which will emphasize services such as technology support and wireless connections, will feature large new hubs at their center to assist shoppers, as well as reconfigured checkout lanes and new areas to accelerate the pickup of items purchased earlier online."
If any retail chain deserves to fail it is Best Buy.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
For me, Best Buy is a matter of convenience. If I don't need it RIGHT THIS MINUTE, I will order it online from Newegg or Amazon and get it in a few days. But sometimes, you need something right now, and you're willing to pay a premium for it. For me, that premium is $10 or so more than what I could get online, assuming the product is under a hundred dollars. About a year ago, I needed an HDMI cable. Amazon had it for ten bucks. So I said, all right, going to Best Buy, if they have it for around twenty they've got my business. The cheapest six foot HDMI cable they had, from their own house brand, was forty dollars. And that's not even touching on the sales tax.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
I like killing time at Best Buy. I never actually buy anything from them, way overpriced. But when I want to see if something looks like quality or crap it's a good place to go for a demo.
But then I become tempted to buy something.... A few weeks ago I wanted to get a new screen protector for my wife's Samsung Epic. "Can I help you sir?" "Yeah, do you have a screen film for this phone?" "Yes, we have this one with a lifetime warranty for 20 dollars."
Honest Abe. 20 bucks for a fancy piece of scotch tape.
"Oh, we're going broke!!!!" Good.
Forbes had a really good article explaining why this was inevitable a few months ago. The author was absolutely dead right about his central point contrasting best buy and amazon.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrydownes/2012/01/02/why-best-buy-is-going-out-of-business-gradually/
He makes the point that it isn't about money, it's about the customer experience and he is absolutely right. Amazon goes to extremes to make the customer have a better experience. Best Buy goes to extremes to make the customer more profitable. Best Buy needs to drop their customer as the enemy mentality and learned to embrace the customer instead of alienating them on a routine basis.
Well it's OBVIOUSLY your fault for wanting to purchase a low-margin item that can't have a warranty upsell attached. Next you'll want a power strip that isn't also a router. Can't you be reasonable and spend $75 on a shiny looking mouse that doesn't suit your needs?
When I worked for Sears ten years ago I refused to "push" extended warranties. I told the customer that for $25 extra they can warranty their refrigerator five years and get free replacement of food if there's a power outage or failure. Plus repair. 95% of the time they'd say "no" and I'd ask "Are you sure?" and then drop it.
Sears responded by pulling me off the floor (thus I earn no money except min. wage) and making me watch Warranty training videos, because my EW percentage was too low. Basically punishment.
I didn't stay at that store long. I thought it would be a fun parttime job for extra cash, but it made me feel dirty instead.
EWs truly are a waste of money. Appliances either suffer infant mortality (first few months) or end-of-life mortality (15-20 years). The infant mortality is covered by the manufacturer's 1 year deal, and EOL is just EOL. Extended warranty covers neither of these two cases.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
No one seems to have brought it up so I will. I don't mind paying a premium for getting an item today. Or for being able to hold the thing in my hands while I'm making a decision. But they're so worried about getting ripped off, they treat everyone like a criminal. Their security at the front of the store and their policy of requiring GOVERMNMENT-ISSUED PHOTO ID to return an item, even if purchased with a credit card, is absurd. Next up: a full-fledged TSA groping on the way out the door. No thanks. Good riddance.
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