I'm really not sure what the future of stores like Best Buy will be. The biggest threat right now is that people come into the store, get help from our salespeople, find out exactly what they want/need...and then they go find it online. They call Best Buy "Amazon's Showroom." The trouble with that, as you allude to...what happens when the likes of Amazon put all the big electronics stores out of business? What will people do when their little freebie showroom and helpful experts no longer exist?
It's the public shooting itself in the collective foot, if you ask me.
He may get special bonuses for consistently good sales, but his overall salary should not be commission-based. If you're a good salesperson, you'll make more. If you're bad, you get fired. I suppose it's possible it could vary regionally, but I know in my store, they stress very much that it is NOT a commission-based job.
I'd agree to those points, but I'd also contend that they're vastly overblown as far as actual prevalence. I can't recall ever hearing about magazine subscriptions, for instance. That's not to say it doesn't happen, but it definitely isn't common.
The reason the salespeople push for extended warranties/tech support is that it actually can be in the customer's best interest later on; it's just that most people are focused on the NOW and don't care to consider the future. It is a lot cheaper to get a tech support plan when you get a computer than it is to purchase it on its own later on when something eventually does go wrong. It is a lot cheaper to buy accidental damage coverage for your new laptop than it is to have to pay for a new screen plus labor charges if it gets broken. (Just to name two examples.)
The problem for Best Buy is that a lot of people come into the store, hellbent on hating all of us regardless of what has actually transpired or who is at fault for their issues. I had one lady who came storming into the store, shouting about how her laptop was practically brand new and Best Buy should stand behind its products because it's already broken! The thing is, her "new" laptop was already a year old (hardly new by laptop standards). When she bought it, she got one of the cheapest models, so of course she didn't bother to spend extra for accidental damage coverage or tech support or setup. It turns out she simply managed to get a virus. The thing is, when she got her new computer, she never bothered to activate the trial antivirus that came with it, which isn't such a big deal because looking at the receipt, I could see she actually bought a decent antivirus along with the computer. The problem is, she never bothered to install the damned thing. So, completely over her own negligence, she's unprotected and manages to get herself infected. And yet, she wants us to provide service for her for free and gets downright belligerent at the suggestion of having her pay for tech support.
This is just one example, but it's far from an isolated incident. All day, every day customers just like this come in. Not all are quite as rude and hateful towards us, but the fact of the matter is that they have problems that are completely their own fault, and they want us to fix everything for free forever. I'm sorry, but that's just not how the system works, and when you try to explain that to people, many of them turn nasty. And this is part of how Best Buy gets an awful reputation with customers. For any haters out there, I would challenge you to hang around the Customer Service / Geek Squad area for even a week. You'll see all sorts of truly nasty people, and if you pay attention to why they're there and angry, you'll find out that it's most often their own fault. But what happens then? They go run off and tell everyone they know about how awful the employees are, how incompetent the store is, etc. etc.
Best Buy has a ton of flaws, but after working there, my opinion of them has changed drastically. I realize now that their reputation for bad service has more to do with bad customers than anything else, and that their "pushiness" is mild at most, and pretty much the same as you would find in ANY retail store. As for higher prices...well, if you're the kind of person (like myself) who shops at places like Newegg, Best Buy isn't really meant to cater to you. It's made for people who not only want their gadgets *now*, but those who don't necessarily know much about electronics and would like someone around to answer questions. That's the difference between Best Buy and, say, Wal-Mart, where you're lucky if there's even a person running the register who knows the first thing about electronics. The salespeople might steer you towards pricier accessories, but they don't have malicious intents, and they definitely don't deserve the widespread hatred that's directed at them online.
Just a correction to your first point, Best Buy salespeople don't get paid on commission; it's just a flat hourly wage. Of course, they do keep track of sales, but only to know who does a good job and who doesn't. If you hardly sell anything, you're not worth keeping around. But the point is that their pay isn't increased by selling you more products/services.
Just so you know, Best Buy makes next to nothing off most TVs. Offering one brand or another does little for the bottom line.
However, you're failing to see a very valid reason to push accessories. Imagine someone comes into the store to buy an HDTV for the first time simply because they hear the term all the time. Now, let's go with what you're suggesting and just let them walk out with a TV alone and nothing more. Here's what will happen all too frequently (because let's be honest...the majority of people are dumb as bricks): they take the TV home, hook up their DVD player over composite cables, take one look at how crappy the picture looks and decide to return the TV because it's "a piece of junk."
Now, if the salesperson encouraged them to get a Blu-Ray player and even a modest HDMI cable (they actually do have relatively cheaper ones that are just fine), sure they'll have to pay more, but when they get home and hook it up, they'll actually be pleased with the purchase, and the store won't have to eat another return.
And while I'm just presenting this as a hypothetical situation, trust me when I say it is very much reality. When you surround yourself with other technologically literate individuals, it's easy to lose sight of just how techno-illiterate the general populace is. They care little for why something isn't performing up to their expectations or what they can do to fix it. Most of the time, if it isn't perfect immediately, they simply want to get rid of it. It's easy to hate Best Buy, but can you really fault them for wanting to prevent unnecessary returns?
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All good points.
I'm really not sure what the future of stores like Best Buy will be. The biggest threat right now is that people come into the store, get help from our salespeople, find out exactly what they want/need...and then they go find it online. They call Best Buy "Amazon's Showroom." The trouble with that, as you allude to...what happens when the likes of Amazon put all the big electronics stores out of business? What will people do when their little freebie showroom and helpful experts no longer exist?
It's the public shooting itself in the collective foot, if you ask me.
He may get special bonuses for consistently good sales, but his overall salary should not be commission-based. If you're a good salesperson, you'll make more. If you're bad, you get fired. I suppose it's possible it could vary regionally, but I know in my store, they stress very much that it is NOT a commission-based job.
I'd agree to those points, but I'd also contend that they're vastly overblown as far as actual prevalence. I can't recall ever hearing about magazine subscriptions, for instance. That's not to say it doesn't happen, but it definitely isn't common.
The reason the salespeople push for extended warranties/tech support is that it actually can be in the customer's best interest later on; it's just that most people are focused on the NOW and don't care to consider the future. It is a lot cheaper to get a tech support plan when you get a computer than it is to purchase it on its own later on when something eventually does go wrong. It is a lot cheaper to buy accidental damage coverage for your new laptop than it is to have to pay for a new screen plus labor charges if it gets broken. (Just to name two examples.)
The problem for Best Buy is that a lot of people come into the store, hellbent on hating all of us regardless of what has actually transpired or who is at fault for their issues. I had one lady who came storming into the store, shouting about how her laptop was practically brand new and Best Buy should stand behind its products because it's already broken! The thing is, her "new" laptop was already a year old (hardly new by laptop standards). When she bought it, she got one of the cheapest models, so of course she didn't bother to spend extra for accidental damage coverage or tech support or setup. It turns out she simply managed to get a virus. The thing is, when she got her new computer, she never bothered to activate the trial antivirus that came with it, which isn't such a big deal because looking at the receipt, I could see she actually bought a decent antivirus along with the computer. The problem is, she never bothered to install the damned thing. So, completely over her own negligence, she's unprotected and manages to get herself infected. And yet, she wants us to provide service for her for free and gets downright belligerent at the suggestion of having her pay for tech support.
This is just one example, but it's far from an isolated incident. All day, every day customers just like this come in. Not all are quite as rude and hateful towards us, but the fact of the matter is that they have problems that are completely their own fault, and they want us to fix everything for free forever. I'm sorry, but that's just not how the system works, and when you try to explain that to people, many of them turn nasty. And this is part of how Best Buy gets an awful reputation with customers. For any haters out there, I would challenge you to hang around the Customer Service / Geek Squad area for even a week. You'll see all sorts of truly nasty people, and if you pay attention to why they're there and angry, you'll find out that it's most often their own fault. But what happens then? They go run off and tell everyone they know about how awful the employees are, how incompetent the store is, etc. etc.
Best Buy has a ton of flaws, but after working there, my opinion of them has changed drastically. I realize now that their reputation for bad service has more to do with bad customers than anything else, and that their "pushiness" is mild at most, and pretty much the same as you would find in ANY retail store. As for higher prices...well, if you're the kind of person (like myself) who shops at places like Newegg, Best Buy isn't really meant to cater to you. It's made for people who not only want their gadgets *now*, but those who don't necessarily know much about electronics and would like someone around to answer questions. That's the difference between Best Buy and, say, Wal-Mart, where you're lucky if there's even a person running the register who knows the first thing about electronics. The salespeople might steer you towards pricier accessories, but they don't have malicious intents, and they definitely don't deserve the widespread hatred that's directed at them online.
Just a correction to your first point, Best Buy salespeople don't get paid on commission; it's just a flat hourly wage. Of course, they do keep track of sales, but only to know who does a good job and who doesn't. If you hardly sell anything, you're not worth keeping around. But the point is that their pay isn't increased by selling you more products/services.
Just so you know, Best Buy makes next to nothing off most TVs. Offering one brand or another does little for the bottom line. However, you're failing to see a very valid reason to push accessories. Imagine someone comes into the store to buy an HDTV for the first time simply because they hear the term all the time. Now, let's go with what you're suggesting and just let them walk out with a TV alone and nothing more. Here's what will happen all too frequently (because let's be honest...the majority of people are dumb as bricks): they take the TV home, hook up their DVD player over composite cables, take one look at how crappy the picture looks and decide to return the TV because it's "a piece of junk." Now, if the salesperson encouraged them to get a Blu-Ray player and even a modest HDMI cable (they actually do have relatively cheaper ones that are just fine), sure they'll have to pay more, but when they get home and hook it up, they'll actually be pleased with the purchase, and the store won't have to eat another return. And while I'm just presenting this as a hypothetical situation, trust me when I say it is very much reality. When you surround yourself with other technologically literate individuals, it's easy to lose sight of just how techno-illiterate the general populace is. They care little for why something isn't performing up to their expectations or what they can do to fix it. Most of the time, if it isn't perfect immediately, they simply want to get rid of it. It's easy to hate Best Buy, but can you really fault them for wanting to prevent unnecessary returns?