Is Best Buy next?

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 11:15am

According to this report, they are in serious trouble. No surprise to some, I'm sure.
The latest "endangered species" list.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 11:18am

The last time I was there I asked if they had the new Barbra Streisand concert DVD. The guy had no clue who she was. Rolled my eyes and left. Had no need or desire to go back since.

[romantico]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 11:41am

Best Buy killed Circuit City in our area. Before that it was The Wiz (which I LOVED!) and Lechmeres. There is no more competition. Netflix killed Blockbuster. With Borders out of the way Barnes and Noble is pretty much the only book store chain in the country. How long before Costco and Target go out and Wal-Mart is the only retail shop around? We no longer have music stores like Sam Goody's,Tower,Strawberry's, or HMV. If you want a CD you either download it or buy it at Wal-Mart or Target or Best Buy.Amazon and online retailers have killed the stores. Borders, Media Play,Coconuts,HMV,Tower Video, and Sam Goody's are just a few of the many retail casualties. This is the way of the future.I blame the internet!

Updated On: 9/20/11 at 11:41 AM

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 11:46am

Well, Video did kill the radio star...

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 12:04pm

Have you been to a Costco lately? Their disc media section is down to one tiny island for both DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. Their prices aren't any better than Walmart now. It used to fill an entire aisle (both sides) five years ago, and they could often beat everybody's prices, including online. Granted, they still have several rows of big-screen TVs and BD players, but their CDs, books, DVDs, and BDs are now just a very small section.

The times they are a-changing.

Updated On: 9/20/11 at 12:04 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 12:06pm

Here's the other thing:

Blu-ray Disc sales and rentals continue to climb, even in this economy.

People just aren't buying or renting them in brick-and-mortar stores anymore.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 12:09pm

For some reason, I always thought Best Buy would always be safe.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 12:19pm

For the most part, the necessity of buying CDs, books and videos in stores simply isn't there anymore. It's not like testing the quality of electronics or trying on clothes and we're now in an era of advanced worldwide communication in almost every household. We're in the process of witnessing evolution. Old methods will be replaced by new methods. DVDs will go the way of VHS and Blu Ray will be king until streaming, downloads, and/or data cards (like the memory cards for your camera) become the more advanced or preferred use of technology. All-in-one computers are sneaking in as a preferable option to desktops and tablets could replace laptops. And the world goes 'round.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 12:22pm

Best Buy is the king of the mountain today. But what mountain are we talking about now?

The giant chain stores that are surviving are diversified: Target, Walmart, Costco. They don't just sell electronics or "hard copy" entertainment media (books, CDs, DVDs,). They can shrink one department and expand another with the changing times.

And man, I don't think I've ever seen times change quite so quickly in my lifetime. This is all a result of the Internet changing our lives, which didn't remotely start this decade. But that's the real motivator, not the economy. Our recession maybe fueling the fire, but it isn't the cause of this massive shift in consumer behavior.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 12:27pm

It's not just changing how we buy our media either. It's changing the media itself.

With downloadable music, consumers can pick and choose. They don't have to buy whole albums anymore, so this has changed the way artists are creating and selling their music.

With DVDs and BDs, studios put millions (actually billions) into added content, documentaries, commentaries, etc., because consumers wanted them on discs. They sold better. Now with streaming, and rental discs growing in popularity, most of those features are disappearing. So the people who created them have moved onto other things. I can't tell you how many friends, former clients, and former colleagues have left the industry. Nearly all of them (probably 90 percent).

Updated On: 9/20/11 at 12:27 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 12:37pm

CDS are a teeny tiny shred of Best Buy's business. DVDs are slightly more. Both departments have long been a "loss leader" to get you in the store. A Streisand title isn't bringing anyone in- I'm not surprised they aren't carrying it.

Their core business (Appliances, cell phones, electronics) are very low margin. Their strategy was to advertise a low low price on say a washing machine. You'd drive to the store and that model was sold out- or turned out to be last year's model, without that new setting you craved. So you paid a little more for the other washer.

Now, if you go to a store and find that deal isn't available you whip out the I phone and find where it is- if you left the house at all. You can go online, research your purchase, buy it and schedule deliver in about 5 minutes now.

And as sales dwindle, so do payroll dollars. Try to get help in a Best Buy. There are people running registers and that's about it- and if you ask a question, they have to look the item up on line to answer it cause they have NO idea what the stuff is they are selling.

You can hear the death knoll.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 12:44pm

Our recession maybe fueling the fire, but it isn't the cause of this massive shift in consumer behavior.

Exactly. Recession is partly to blame for some drops in sales, but it's a relatively small factor in what has been a rapid shift in technology and communication. The last 15 years alone have been the core of a entirely new age of global communication which merely planted the seeds for the evolution of sales, transactions, travel and entertainment. The global impact is comparable to the industrial revolution.

Updated On: 9/20/11 at 12:44 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 12:44pm

"CDS are a teeny tiny shred of Best Buy's business. DVDs are slightly more. Both departments have long been a "loss leader" to get you in the store."

If what you mean by "long since" is the last 2-3 years, then yes. Otherwise, no, that would be wrong. DVDs used to account for 10-12 aisles exclusively in their stores, and it was their highest seller by far. More than any other department.

But that was just 3 years ago, the "heyday" being 2000 to 2008. It's a complete reversal now.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 12:46pm

That really is the one thing that I miss the most - knowledgeable staff. Going back to my video store days when we were out of a movie I'd suggest other titles to people based on what I liked and what they told me they liked. Suggestions like that can't be made by computers.
When I was in the market for a new camer I went to best buy but they didnt know the products at all so it was no better than looking online. I did find that the staff at J&R is incredibly familiar with every product they stock so I've been going there lately.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 12:50pm

I agree with you, but I don't get the sudden stoooopidity with the employees. Did they lay everybody off who used to work there and replace them with people who didn't get trained and don't know how to look things up? They stand around in these empty stores a lot. Do they ever look at the products on the dusty shelves?

There are a lot of people out of work now. And some of them actually know things and have brains and stuff.

EDIT: If it's the "sinking ship" mentality with the "why bother?" solution, then I have no pity for them. They're getting what they deserve.

Updated On: 9/20/11 at 12:50 PM

[Eris0303]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 12:54pm

Going back to my video store days when we were out of a movie I'd suggest other titles to people based on what I liked and what they told me they liked. Suggestions like that can't be made by computers.

I worked in both a video store and a bookstore and used to this as well. The result was if I wasn't working people would leave the store and come back when I was there.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 12:54pm

Places like Best Buy have always had a high employee turnover rate so it makes sense to me. And over the last few years the new crop of employees just aren't knowledgeable like the staff used to be and I think a lot of it has to do with consumers knowing more about a product because of the internet before they come in so they're asking less and less questions about them. It's the questions the customers ask also that trains staff because if they don't need to find out the answer, they'll never it to help a future customer.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 12:57pm

"I worked in both a video store and a bookstore and used to this as well. The result was if I wasn't working people would leave the store and come back when I was there."

When my boss decided to open up a third Blockbuster in town, he asked me if I would move to that store to help get it started. It was on the complete other side of town and when I agreed, I can't even tell you how many customers followed me there because of my knowledge. The old store lost business because of it and it made me feel really REALLY great about myself.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 1:01pm

For me, when I was in the industry, I would go into a Best Buy in Burbank to check out the latest releases (at that point, many of which I had worked on), and I used to have employees come up to me and try to "explain" things to me, like what Blu-ray was.

Sometimes I would just listen, especially if they knew their stuff, and sometimes I would tell them, "Yeah, I know. I worked on the very first Blu-ray Disc ever made." The reaction in the olden days was usually to ask me a bunch of questions. They wanted information, because they genuinely cared about the products they were selling. I had some really great conversations in Best Buy. Once in a while, I got attitude from someone feeling insecure who would feel "challenged" by a remark like "yeah, I know."

But later on (the last few years) if I was talking with an employee who wanted to "introduce me to Blu-ray" and I told them what I did, they didn't even care. They didn't ask me questions or even cop an attitude from feeling threatened. It meant nothing to them either way ... just like the products they were selling.

A big change.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 1:13pm

Turnover, lower pay and a change in focus on both the corporate and store level almost guarantees "stupid" employees. I worked in retail a long long time- floor employees had been trained to greet each customer, to ask to help them and to suggest an item based on what they selected ("Here is that new Barbra Streisand CD- did you see we have about 20 of her earlier albums on CD for $5.99 each? It's a great time to upgrade to disc if you haven't already!")

When your payroll gets cut, floor employees are stocking shelves, sweeping up messes, covering cashier breaks, running back to accept deliveries- not helping customers. In fact, if you spend too long with someone, that's "bad" and you'll probably be told to get back to work. And, someone with a real love of their product isn't going to want to work on a sales floor that only carries 3 Barbra Streisand CDs. You pretty much guarantee you'll have folks who really don't care.
Updated On: 9/20/11 at 01:13 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 1:19pm

They're really sealing their own fate when they make an unwritten "policy change" like that.

They don't realize that one unpleasant visit can cause a regular customer never to return. They haven't lost a sale, they've lost a regular customer. That's a huge difference.

Why do none of them have a successful business model in place for how to weather a storm like this? They're all fine during a growth period, but have no idea how to handle a major shift in economy and technology. And when things get tough, they all end up doing the same thing the same way and hoping for a different result. Isn't that the definition of insanity?


EDIT: My suggestion: cut back on the number of products you sell, cut back on the number of stores you have open, but never NEVER cut back on your customer service. That's the front lines, where the battles are fought and won. If you skimp there, you'll lose the war. Why don't they ever learn?

Updated On: 9/20/11 at 01:19 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 1:48pm

I can't even tell you how many times I've just walked out of a store in the past few years because I just couldn't find someone to assist me.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 2:09pm

I agree that the lack of help threw me off the last time I went into a Best Buy. I was looking at buying a laptop and noticed except for the Apple products, you could just grab what you wanted and bring to a register. I have never been in an electronics store where that was the case for expensive items like that. And the guy who rung me up had trouble counting up say $150 to a bunch of 20 dollar bills I also handed him. If you can't count, you shouldn't be working as a cashier.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 2:14pm

Customer service is dead. The people who are suffering the most are the elderly (and we will all be elderly one day, folks.) The elderly, like my parents, don't have the internet and can't do research online or have an email or blah blah blah. When they go into a store they need help and can't get it. They want to talk to someone. And yes, we can all bitch about how annoying old people are, but they deserve some respect.

If my parents want to buy a new appliance or something I essentially have to go with them, as there is no one there to help them. I also have to order things online for them that are no longer available in stores. They literally hand me lists of things they need and I go online and order them.

Also, since the nightly news now sucks and only does half stories and ends each sound bite with "for the full story, please go to our website" I have to go online and get my parents all the information they need.

I am all for evolution and automation, but I hope there is some sort of return to interpersonal contact in retail. There is no replacement for a knowledgable salesperson. All the online reviews in the world can't replace that.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 2:20pm

Of course you are right, Besty- but you can see their dilemma illustrated even here on this board. People want the absolute lowest price AND they want top-notch service. You just can't do both. I Manged a Borders for a while- customers thought nothing of tying up two or even three salespeople asking questions, hunting down books they heard about- and then would walk out with a list of stuff to order from amazon.

It's a recipe for disaster.