Best Buy is getting slammed

rdb2001

I think most of us don't realize that the avergae consumer knows nothing about what they are shopping for in Bestbuy. We on this forum are not your average consumer. Having worked in the this business before, most customers do not even understand that there TV's will not look good if they dont have a high def source. They think they can hook up screw on cable and think just because they just bought a new HDTV, that it will look good. I do think bestbuy overpushes upselling but as far as knowlegde, the average customer just comes in and wants you to pick out their tv for them. You would be suprised about how clueless alot of people are. Yes most of you know more about audio and video than a typical bestbuy employee but remember, you are an exception to the rule.

pdxfj

markmarc wrote: »

The problem is that Best Buy over saturated way too many markets. For example, here on the west side of Portland there are three stores within 15 minutes of my house, and a fourth one is just 25 minutes away. By doing this BB is only cannibalizing their own sales, and actually driving down their profit margins. They should be closing 300 stores if they expect to have a chance at surviving. Instead they will do the bare minimum and end up in bankruptcy twice with the second time being Chapter 7 liquidation all in 5-7 years.

Yeah.. I don't understand that... I work in LO and it's a stones throw to the Wash. SQ and Tualatin stores.

I see far more people in Fry's than any of the local BB stores. I've visited several BB stores here to check out projectors and no one will help. They all have a Sony projector I'm very interested in, but it is never turned on. They are hooked up via composite video with no plans for HDMI. The one projector they have setup is no where near as good as Sony and even it is being projected onto the totally wrong type of screen.

Visiting Fry's to look at projectors, I immediately had someone who was very happy to help and even gave me their card. They had their projectors shining into a $150 screen, but they all were hooked up properly and looked way better than anything I saw at BB being shown on a grey SI Black Diamond screen at 10+ times the price.

I'll pre-order movies from BB and maybe grab one off the shelf if it is on sale. I would bet that most of us could go into any BB store, setup their audio and video equipment properly and sell the hell out of it.

BB needs to change their strategy and get people in there who enjoy what they do and compensate them properly. I know a few people who worked for BB and their treatment of employees is not the greatest.

markmarc

Syndil wrote: »

Like I said, it's not Best Buy's fault. Brick and mortar electronics chains in general are being driven out of business by Amazon, Newegg and other online retailers. Geek Squad is really the only thing they have that is truly profitable. That's not saying anything about the level of knowledge their techs have, it's just a better business model right now than a brick-and-mortar electronics store. Geek Squad is a brand people recognize and use, and that has value. To just discard that brand's value and roll Geek Squad into their computer department would hurt them immensely. Services are the way to make money in this economy, not retail, unless you are Amazon or Newegg.

Just wait, Fry's will be next to start reporting doom and gloom.

Sorry, but you are way off base. Best Buy's problem is too many stores too close to one another. Please re-read post #43. This is a problem of their own creation. In a metro area the size of Portland, four or five stores would have been plenty. Instead, they have ELEVEN. This is complete marketing stupidity. Best Buy's original success was based partly on being a destination store whereby people made the drive because they knew there was bargains. What they have turned into is 7-11, put one in every neighborhood. The margins on electronics (beyond speakers) have been lousy for 20+ years, so no excuses.

I worked at Best Buy in the mid 90's as a summer job (I'm a teacher), back then they pushed extended warranties down people's throats because that was how the managers made a decent living and made the store profit margins look good, which impressed Wall Street. Even back then I was telling people that in the end the greed factor was so bad that eventually their day of reckoning would come. Now, the first major step is occurring. I feel bad for anybody who is going to end up losing their job. I just hope those whose career is BB, can see the wreck coming and find other employment before they get whacked.

Frys is in much better shape as they have just one store per average-size metro area. They focus on being a destination shopping experience. Their margins aren't much, but with one location and large volume they seem to be keeping their heads above water.

Syndil

Too many stores may be the short-term problem, but the problem I am talking about is not going away. The writing is on the wall, and it's because we are putting it there with our online shopping habits.

cfrizz

It's a combination of too many stores and our habits of buying online.

I've lost track of how many times businesses have gotten greedy and over expanded themselves right out of business! And what gets me, is that NONE of them learn from other store failures! They just get popular and then decide to put themselves on every corner it doesn't make a bit of sense.

tonyb

I dunno about the "store on every corner" theory. That buisness model seemed to work well for other chains like CVS or Walgreens. Same for McDonalds, and in some area's, Home Depot, grocery chains. I want to say alot has to do more so with online buying. You can quickly scout out the best price which may lead you away from Best Buy. The alternative was you were stuck with comparing prices to the stores in your geographic area. That all seems fine and dandy now, but wait until they start adding taxes up the wazoo to internet sales and throw in shipping costs, only then will the B&M stores become appealing once again. It's only a matter of time before free shipping goes out the window.

Another thing to look at too, is if the majority start strictly buying online, and those purchases are tracked, how long would it be before that info was used against you ? Say your collecting unemployment benefits and your purchase of a 60 inch big screen was tracked, could they deny you benefits because of big purchases ? Question where the coin came from ? Just some food for thought.

Syndil

CNBC had a great piece on Best Buy a while back. Not sure if they will air it again, but speaks to a lot of what we are discussing. Might want to read about some of it if you're interested.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/45553154

cwilliams

markmarc wrote: »

Frys is in much better shape as they have just one store per average-size metro area. They focus on being a destination shopping experience. Their margins aren't much, but with one location and large volume they seem to be keeping their heads above water.

Highly agreed! I also shop at Fry's much more now that they started matching internet prices (not just Amazon). They are obviously collecting data based on this because more often lately I have noticed that their standard prices are starting to match Amazon. Some sales are even going below that!

In regards to my experience with Best Buy, I worked in the inventory department after I graduated high school during the holidays in 2003. I did not enjoy the experience of working there AT ALL. The only thing I liked was the discount (cost + 5%). I think I would have survived for a little while longer if I had been on the sales floor. Although, I think I would have had a problem lying through my teeth while trying to sell an extended warranty that was useless. I was also the only one in my department that helped customers (usually in TV's) as I was going to and from the warehouse. I had two occasions where the customer went and thanked the manager for my help. That was about the only joy I received. Everything else was hell and beyond. I doubt many of you have had to stack a CRT tv about 30-40' high and out of the reach of the platform lift, but it's not fun.

The last time I went into Best Buy to kill time on my lunch break, I went to the BR section to see what was on sale. Much to my surprise, the entire section of movies had ZERO sales tags hanging on the shelves and no other labels to speak of. Every movie was marked with a MSRP sticker and nothing else. I walked out.

However, I did buy my entire Polk TSI setup from open box specials that were marked about half off. Not a fingerprint or a scratch on them. No complaints about that!

Long live Fry's!

cfrizz

tonyb wrote: »

I dunno about the "store on every corner" theory. That buisness model seemed to work well for other chains like CVS or Walgreens. Same for McDonalds, and in some area's, Home Depot, grocery chains. I want to say alot has to do more so with online buying. You can quickly scout out the best price which may lead you away from Best Buy. The alternative was you were stuck with comparing prices to the stores in your geographic area. That all seems fine and dandy now, but wait until they start adding taxes up the wazoo to internet sales and throw in shipping costs, only then will the B&M stores become appealing once again. It's only a matter of time before free shipping goes out the window.

Another thing to look at too, is if the majority start strictly buying online, and those purchases are tracked, how long would it be before that info was used against you ? Say your collecting unemployment benefits and your purchase of a 60 inch big screen was tracked, could they deny you benefits because of big purchases ? Question where the coin came from ? Just some food for thought.

Tony, it makes perfect sense that stores like CVS etc will survive better than stores like BB simply because they sell things that we use every day and run out of and need to be replaced. However, electronics are built to last for decades! CVS sells things for a few bucks, BB sells things that can run in the thousands of dollars. Unless you have endless amounts of cash to upgrade every single year, your visits to BB will be few and far between.

You are under a great misconception of thinking that people collecting unemployment are getting a ton of cash. I can tell you from personal experience that getting $365.00 a week didn't get me very far when I had to pay for my Cobra of over $700.00 a month. That was only about 60% of my salary before I got laid off. Add in my condo fee, food, and other every day expenses just where do you think I would get the money for for a new tv?

If I didn't have an emergency fund & owned my condo outright I would have been up $hits creek! As it is, I'm putting any extra cash I get like my tax refund to pay off my school loan now that I'm working again.

I fell right into the average of what the majority of the people get from unemployment. I didn't qualify for any help with school it all came out of my pocket.

I'm tired of you guys assuming that those of us who were/are unfortunate to get laid off after YEARS of faithful service to our former places of employment are just sitting on our asses getting rich off of unemployment!

cnh

cfrizz wrote: »

Tony, it makes perfect sense that stores like CVS etc will survive better than stores like BB simply because they sell things that we use every day and run out of and need to be replaced. However, electronics are built to last for decades! CVS sells things for a few bucks, BB sells things that can run in the thousands of dollars. Unless you have endless amounts of cash to upgrade every single year, your visits to BB will be few and far between.

You are under a great misconception of thinking that people collecting unemployment are getting a ton of cash. I can tell you from personal experience that getting $365.00 a week didn't get me very far when I had to pay for my Cobra of over $700.00 a month. That was only about 60% of my salary before I got laid off. Add in my condo fee, food, and other every day expenses just where do you think I would get the money for for a new tv?

If I didn't have an emergency fund & owned my condo outright I would have been up $hits creek! As it is, I'm putting any extra cash I get like my tax refund to pay off my school loan now that I'm working again.

I fell right into the average of what the majority of the people get from unemployment. I didn't qualify for any help with school it all came out of my pocket.

I'm tired of you guys assuming that those of us who were/are unfortunate to get laid off after YEARS of faithful service to our former places of employment are just sitting on our asses getting rich off of unemployment!

Thank you,

A little balance, occasionally, doesn't hurt. I guess I understand what a lot of people complain about, but having grown up lower working class, I just can't identify with it in terms of my experience...of my sixth grade class of 200, about 5-6 went on to a top college and obtained a B.A., and perhaps one or two went on to advanced degrees, Ph.D.s. Many of the rest are living on the edge these days but that's not because they're collecting "excessive" amounts of welfare or don't want to work. The economy back home tanked when the steel industry collapsed in the U.S. And we can't blame that on ONE political administration.

Eventually new jobs were created during the Reagan period. Jobs that paid 50 percent of most of the jobs people had before? As a result, more people in a family had to work just so that they could make ends meet. Two minimum wage or slightly higher paying jobs meant, only the "most" exceptional of children would be able to climb out of that morass and realize something like the American dream and that's been going on for over 30 years. It is NOT a recent phenomenon as many would have us believe. Oh enough about depressed economies and the "good old days"!

Back to Best Buy and crash and burn economics!

cnh

tonyb

Cathy, I think your misinterpreting what I said, or I just suck at getting my point across.

I never presumed unemployment wasn't enough, or too much. I was just pointing to the fact that everything online is tracked these days....so it seems anyway. Point was, how long before all this data is used against you. Uncle sam doesn't care what your expenses are, none of that goes into determining what you get on unemployment. What the data can be used for is to deny benefits, something I can see them doing in the not so distant future. Much the same way your medical data can be used to deny benefits by insurance companies. Too much info in the wrong hands is not a good thing imho anyway.

JuanR

WOW!..from Best Buy sucks....... to the government is watching what you are spending because you are unemployed and therefor cant afford any big ticket items (assuming you never saved any money and because you are unemployed are now living off the weekly unemployement money you get, and assuming the government does a wonderful job of monitoring this, and assuming the government will revoke your unemployement rights so hold off on any "luxury" purchases.

now back to the subject of this thread...

There are great benefits to having a "Box" store available locally, you can try it before you buy it...assuming they carry what you want. The expensive or "special" items are not always available because they are just what I stated. Fewer customers means lower demand, more of a risk to carry in inventory and more expensive on the books. Companies do not want to commit to items that have a slow turnover ratio... PERIOD! would you want to hold items that where expensive and only a "small" percentage of people bought or would you prefer to carry the "$99" special that everyone on a budget (especially the unemployement folk (sarcastic joke))if you owned the store?

Unfortunately companies like Best Buy look at what the "demographics" are trending towards and thats what they carry...thats why they have such poor inventory. Its not my fault the 80" LED is not immediately available but the 4 station toaster or the hepa filter vacuum cleaner is.

sorry about the rant folks...just giving my opinion....hopefully nobody got offended....after all this is a "family" here and we can all speak our minds.

peace out!

Juan

tonyb

The name of the game is moving inventory, bigger ticket items sit longer, and in a down economy, even longer. If Best buy didn't have a suck **** return policy, and kept away from shoving extended warranties down people's throats, I might consider buying something there again. At some point, they seperated themselves from customer service, and to me thats a leadership problem from the head honcho.

VR3

As an educated electronics consumer I feel you would be foolish to buy anything at Best Buy...

In my town there is a local competitor right down the street that sells same length HDMI cables for 3 dollars versus 40 - just an example..

byfthalone

closing poor performing stores...they are also opening 50 over the same time period...are they hurting, sure they are, but they aren't alone. the nice thing about the free market, you don't have to like em and you don't have to shop em. 50 stores closing also mean hundreds of people looking for other job. retail yes, but I know when I really really needed the extra income I was glad they hired me. and if you ever want to hear what one of their HR policies meant to my family when my grandson was nearly killed in an auto accident, PM me.

newrival

heiney9 wrote: »

Seriously???? You are quite the assbackward person in these discussions, aren't you.

And some people think you're the stubborn, close-minded curmudgeon in this forum. Not expressing an opinion, Just repeating what I've been told

But you do seem eager to cut people off at the knees when they don't take your opinion as the gospel.

I like Best Buy. I like supporting a place that's employing friendly staff who are mostly kids from my town. I, unlike you, enjoy standing around with "other people." They match prices, will work deals with you, and offer a good price. I have 2 stores nearby, one better than the other, but they both offer a pretty good experience. The one by my old home was even better with one of the nice Magnolia centers I've been in with VERY GOOD demo rooms.

I like an online deal as much as anyone, but I'm of the opinion these days tht I'd rater support a place that employs my neighbors.

newrival

tonyb wrote: »

The name of the game is moving inventory, bigger ticket items sit longer, and in a down economy, even longer. If Best buy didn't have a suck **** return policy, and kept away from shoving extended warranties down people's throats, I might consider buying something there again. At some point, they seperated themselves from customer service, and to me thats a leadership problem from the head honcho.

I'm always surprised whe people say this. I've returned several things to BB. Always within 14 days, but they've never asked a single question. I essentially demoed 3 cameras at home for 2 weeks and then kept the one that workd best for me and brought back the other 2. Not a single problem.

newrival

VR3 wrote: »

As an educated electronics consumer I feel you would be foolish to buy anything at Best Buy...

In my town there is a local competitor right down the street that sells same length HDMI cables for 3 dollars versus 40 - just an example..

I've bought 2 TVs from BB and after their discount they were close to the cheapest I could find online from the sketchiest e-stores. I think an infored consumer can find goo deals there. Whether the staff is willing to work with you seems to be a geographic issue.

tonyb

By me they have a restocking fee that equates to 15% of the purchase price. Plus if you pay cash for something, you have to wait weeks before getting a check from their home office. Bought a computer there once, wasn't working right and brought it back within 3 days. Had to pay that 15 % and wait almost 4 weeks for the money. Which means they used my money for a month, and charged me for it to boot. They can shove it where the sun doesn't shine as far as I'm concerned. Calls to CS where met with the standard "thats our policy Sr.". B.S. I say.

newrival

tonyb wrote: »

I dunno about the "store on every corner" theory. That buisness model seemed to work well for other chains like CVS or Walgreens. Same for McDonalds, and in some area's, Home Depot, grocery chains. I want to say alot has to do more so with online buying. You can quickly scout out the best price which may lead you away from Best Buy. The alternative was you were stuck with comparing prices to the stores in your geographic area. That all seems fine and dandy now, but wait until they start adding taxes up the wazoo to internet sales and throw in shipping costs, only then will the B&M stores become appealing once again. It's only a matter of time before free shipping goes out the window.

Another thing to look at too, is if the majority start strictly buying online, and those purchases are tracked, how long would it be before that info was used against you ? Say your collecting unemployment benefits and your purchase of a 60 inch big screen was tracked, could they deny you benefits because of big purchases ? Question where the coin came from ? Just some food for thought.

I agree, tony

the stores mentioned offer consumables. Things tht someone needs frequently and in great quantity, so proximity can be greatly increased. Often times with stores like that you can charge more with little effect since theyre low dollar items. Hardly anyone is going to price check on their phones for a box of nyquil or a bag of peanuts.

as to the second part, i try not to believe conspiratorial views, but it's hard to deny the real possibilities of this scenario. Especially what we're experiencing here in Illinois.

newrival

tonyb wrote: »

By me they have a restocking fee that equates to 15% of the purchase price. Plus if you pay cash for something, you have to wait weeks before getting a check from their home office. Bought a computer there once, wasn't working right and brought it back within 3 days. Had to pay that 15 % and wait almost 4 weeks for the money. Which means they used my money for a month, and charged me for it to boot. They can shove it where the sun doesn't shine as far as I'm concerned. Calls to CS where met with the standard "thats our policy Sr.". B.S. I say.

WOW!

Totally different than my experience. I was encouraged to bring things bac and was not charged any fee of any amount. I find it strange they would have rules vary so much store to store

WilliamM2

tonyb wrote: »

By me they have a restocking fee that equates to 15% of the purchase price. Plus if you pay cash for something, you have to wait weeks before getting a check from their home office. Bought a computer there once, wasn't working right and brought it back within 3 days. Had to pay that 15 % and wait almost 4 weeks for the money. Which means they used my money for a month, and charged me for it to boot. They can shove it where the sun doesn't shine as far as I'm concerned. Calls to CS where met with the standard "thats our policy Sr.". B.S. I say.

Best Buy used to charge a 15% restocking fee on computers and peripherals (just like Circuit City). They stopped that policy in 2010.

Many online retailers, including Newegg, DO charge a 15% restocking fee on returns now, although sometimes they will waive it if you call and talk to customer service. And as with most online retalers, return shipping is on you as well.

Here's why most companies are starting to charge restocking fees:

newrival wrote: »

I essentially demoed 3 cameras at home for 2 weeks and then kept the one that workd best for me and brought back the other 2. Not a single problem.

Thanks for raising costs for all of us.

Drenis

VR3 wrote: »

As an educated electronics consumer I feel you would be foolish to buy anything at Best Buy...

Call me an idiot then.

We bought our Sharp from Best Buy for 3 reasons:

1. I wanted a Sony and while browsing MANY models, we both wanted a particular Sharp model they carried after seeing many defects by simply playign with the models and doing some reading up while at home. Did 6 month of research.

2. Financing; No available credit in the amount that was needed to purchase.

3. For what we paid for it, it was worth it.

They are certainly not for everyone. I tend to buy online more if/when I can.

newrival

WilliamM2 wrote: »

Thanks for raising costs for all of us.

Your welcome, but I can't take all the credit; thank the Orland Park Best Buy manager, it was his recommendation that I do exactly that.

tonyb

Ya know, it was around 2010 that I had my mishap with them, must have been at the tail end of that policy. Still, customer service and the constant warranty shoveling gets my goat. I used to shop there all the time, but they did such a fine job of turning me off, why bother ? Unless they get some new leadership in the door, they'll never see another nickel of my coin.

DMara

I think Best Buy is getting slammed here worse than in reality If this thread were used as the measuring stick, they would have closed 500 stores instead of 50 :razz:

potee

I bought 4 TVs from them and each time it was with a very friendly sales person. sometimes they can't answer all your questions but they ask some one else. I'll continue to shop there as well as comp USA and on line.

WilliamM2

tonyb wrote: »

Ya know, it was around 2010 that I had my mishap with them, must have been at the tail end of that policy. Still, customer service and the constant warranty shoveling gets my goat. I used to shop there all the time, but they did such a fine job of turning me off, why bother ? Unless they get some new leadership in the door, they'll never see another nickel of my coin.

I haven't been there in 5 or 6 years. They never have had much of a selection in computers components or A/V, just the lower end stuff. And the prices are lousy.

pearsall001

I've had nothing but good experiences in my local BB. Even the guys in the Magnolia section are extremely knowlegable & fun to talk to. They actually like talking audio with me because as they put it I know what I'm talking about vs the usual customer who is generally clueless. They have a nice selection & I'll stop in every once in a while to see what's new. No complaints here.

headrott

Syndil wrote: »

Too many stores may be the short-term problem, but the problem I am talking about is not going away. The writing is on the wall, and it's because we are putting it there with our online shopping habits.

If you look at my previous post, I would argue that Best Buy actually used to be a best buy. Now they won't even match the best buy which is online. Why do you think people are purchasing online? It's cheaper, of course.

Greg