Why Best Buy is Going out of Business...Gradually

I worked for Bestbuy as a home theater and later computer sales associate from April till October. During my time with the company I realized the company, like stated in the article, is dying. The one thing Bestbuy has going for it is their creditcard. Being able to buy a TV @ 36 months no interest is something a lot of other retailers can't match. Unfortunately, enough people fail at making payments on time and wind up with a 20% or higher interest rate.

This isn't lost on Bestbuy either, when I started with the store we were expected to get 1app a week as part time employees. When I left, it was up to two per shift. Too bad this will only delay the inevitable. I can't wait to see how things play out for Bestbuy, my old supervisor was bathing in the KoolAid daily, and made working there miserable. Will be funny to see what he says when the company fails.
 
The local Microcenter here pretty much killed the local Best Buy. I was out shopping last weekend and the Microcenter parking lot was literally full - you had to wait for parking spots - and Best Buy had maybe a dozen cars on its lot.
 
I'm going to take the contrarian position and say it'd be a sad thing to see BB go out of business. After all, often, before buying something online, how many of us go to a BB to check out the camera or the TV or whatever before buying it from Amazon, Newegg, etc.? I'm sure I'm not the only one. And there are times when they have a very good sale that beats e-tailers' prices and you get it that moment instead of waiting a week for shipping.
 
beowulf7 said:
I'm going to take the contrarian position and say it'd be a sad thing to see BB go out of business. After all, often, before buying something online, how many of us go to a BB to check out the camera or the TV or whatever before buying it from Amazon, Newegg, etc.? I'm sure I'm not the only one. And there are times when they have a very good sale that beats e-tailers' prices and you get it that moment instead of waiting a week for shipping.
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That's already mentioned in the article, if you bothered to read it :p
 
beowulf7 said:
I'm going to take the contrarian position and say it'd be a sad thing to see BB go out of business. After all, often, before buying something online, how many of us go to a BB to check out the camera or the TV or whatever before buying it from Amazon, Newegg, etc.? I'm sure I'm not the only one. And there are times when they have a very good sale that beats e-tailers' prices and you get it that moment instead of waiting a week for shipping.
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There's still Costco, Walmart, Microcenter, Fry's etc. I say good riddance.
 
I think Best Buy's not taking advantage of its major asset, the brick and mortar presence. They could really push that by making sure they have the best on-site support for their products that one can get.

Amazon has the crutch of online presence that best buy can match, if anything breaks you have to ship it.

Best Buy could have made it easy and convenient to repair/exchange products locally, giving people the peace of mind and fast turnaround that would make them want to do business at their store again.

Instead, they offer you service that makes you worry about your purchase's quality and the odds of you getting a hassle free remedy to any problems that may arise with the product should it be damage or you wish to exchange it.
 
Wierdo said:
I think Best Buy's not taking advantage of its major asset, the brick and mortar presence. They could really push that by making sure they have the best on-site support for their products that one can get.

Amazon has the crutch of online presence that best buy can match, if anything breaks you have to ship it.

Best Buy could have made it easy and convenient to repair/exchange products locally, giving people the peace of mind and fast turnaround that would make them want to do business at their store again.

Instead, they offer you service that makes you worry about your purchase's quality and the odds of you getting a hassle free remedy to any problems that may arise with the product should it be damage or you wish to exchange it.
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Including pushing worthless wallet raping software services...
 
^^ this... and

Would they be loosing more money if they matched online prices for things? If they did that I would be inclined to get my electronics there rather than amazon or newegg or tiger...
 
TheBluePill said:
If Amazon would institute a Metadata driven inventory search system for computer parts like newegg, they would probably put the egg out of business too.
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Not unless Amazon directly stocked it. As is, most tech stuff is sold by "Billy Bobs Surplus Stuff of the Back of a Truck" via Amazon.

I rarely buy from amazon "associates" since about half the time it's a horrible experience.

I'd say 95% of my familys retail purchases go to Amazon and Newegg. For high end A/V I shop a online, but specialty places like Visual Apex but that's a once every few years kind of deal.
 
I was in a Best Buy for the first time in approximately five years on the day after Christmas.

It was late and I was looking for an HDMI to mini-HDMI cable. Specifically to hook up to my video card.

I explained this to the tech. Explicitly.
Did a cursory price check and thought I got the right one.
Got home and it was regular HDMI to HDMI. :rolleyes:

So, back I go at 9PM.
I get another tech because they have their HDMI cables set up in THREE (COUNT 'EM!) different aisles.
I told him HDMI to MINI-HDMI.
He hands me a box and goes "this is what you need" and walks off.

So I naturally look at the box. Micro-HDMI. So I root around in all three aisles and finally find the cable I need. :mad:

And GeekSquad has been a joke for years now. They originally started off as a moderately useful technical support company for newbs.

Well, BestBuy gutted that and essentially just turned them into more sales-drone product pushers. Essentially everyone over in the computer section is now a "Geek Squad" member. But most of them couldn't turn a computer on if their life depended on it.

And their selection of product is absolute CRAP nowadays. They've focused on becoming a "boutique", rather than cater to the lower-margin (but higher volume) bulk retail market that was one of their few redeeming features when compared with Circuit City and the like.

Suffice it to say that I won't be going to a BestBuy again. Ever. The only reason I did this time was because I wanted something NOW. And they did their damndest to make "now" take as long as possible.
 
Xeth said:
There's still Costco, Walmart, Microcenter, Fry's etc. I say good riddance.
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Yep. And never mind that the BB showroom is shit for evaluating TVs.

The sad thing would be the loss of Magnolia. I remember when they were independant and coming from Seattle (where they got started) it'd make me a very sad panda. Magnolia was awesome when they were independent.
 
Chas said:
I was in a Best Buy for the first time in approximately five years on the day after Christmas.

It was late and I was looking for an HDMI to mini-HDMI cable. Specifically to hook up to my video card.

I explained this to the tech. Explicitly.
Did a cursory price check and thought I got the right one.
Got home and it was regular HDMI to HDMI. :rolleyes:

So, back I go at 9PM.
I get another tech because they have their HDMI cables set up in THREE (COUNT 'EM!) different aisles.
I told him HDMI to MINI-HDMI.
He hands me a box and goes "this is what you need" and walks off.

So I naturally look at the box. Micro-HDMI. So I root around in all three aisles and finally find the cable I need. :mad:

And GeekSquad has been a joke for years now. They originally started off as a moderately useful technical support company for newbs.

Well, BestBuy gutted that and essentially just turned them into more sales-drone product pushers. Essentially everyone over in the computer section is now a "Geek Squad" member. But most of them couldn't turn a computer on if their life depended on it.

And their selection of product is absolute CRAP nowadays. They've focused on becoming a "boutique", rather than cater to the lower-margin (but higher volume) bulk retail market that was one of their few redeeming features when compared with Circuit City and the like.

Suffice it to say that I won't be going to a BestBuy again. Ever. The only reason I did this time was because I wanted something NOW. And they did their damndest to make "now" take as long as possible.
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Dear Valued Customer,

We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused. The minimum wage employee has been punished.
 
Best Buy is actually going the way of radioshack, they have about 100 stores that are "mobile stores" and sell primarily phones. Cell phones are Best Buy's most profitable segment of their stores.
 
epicjas0n said:
Last time I bought anything from a BB was a few years ago when they had a price mistake on Modern Warfare 2 lol
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I had almost forgotten how slack BB was/is at keeping their prices on games up to date. Many a time I remember observing several copies in a stack with lower prices. Guess everyone was too busy upselling vaporware, to correct 2 week+ old sale prices...
 
collegeboy69us said:
good - I won't be sad. The only time I spend any money in a best buy is when I have a free gift card, or when I need a very common part right that very instant to fix something (and even then I take said item back and get my money back after my order comes in from amazon or newegg)
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That really isn't fair to the retailer. Your gaining all the advantages of their local store and return policy and they are getting nothing back.
 
PersonalJ said:
Best Buy is actually going the way of radioshack, they have about 100 stores that are "mobile stores" and sell primarily phones. Cell phones are Best Buy's most profitable segment of their stores.
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I remember when Radio Shack used to be a place you could by stuff to make a radio, now, it's nothing more than a toy store and Sprint kiosk.
 
I find nothing inherently wrong with BB. I used to work retail as a tech for CompUSA. I know the business.

They charge high prices because the of high overhead. Payroll, benefits, human resources take up a HUGE chunk of costs. Then you have the costs associated to distribution, real estate, overhead, etc.

Honestly, there are very few superbox electronic brick & mortar stores. There will be less. What's left other than BB?

I can count on 1 finger the number of Fry's electronic stores there are in the entire state of AZ, and it's a 110 miles from me.

Times are changing and you'll be finding less and less stores like BB. Hell, I have a BB gift card, but I still save more money if I mail-order from newegg.
 
I haven't bought a laptop in a while, but when I purchased the last couple the pricing at BB was competitive with online prices and actually beat the online prices if you got one of the weekly specials. Naturally they were hoping to regain the sale price with extended warranties and so-on but I still prefer to shop hands on for them. I personally like BB but I do agree with the needed improvements. They are overpriced in many areas as well.
 
Modred189 said:
Though most of the employees at Best Buy are slightly dim, they aren't the drooling rocks that work at Sam's and Wally world....
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"Slightly" dim?!

The ones I've encountered their eyes look like solid black marbles they're so fucking dim. The article author is right- I can't walk into a Best Buy w/o getting pissed within 10min because of those hide and seek champions. When I need one, all of the fuckers hide, when I don't, they all seek me out and distract me from my mission.
 
wand3r3r said:
I haven't bought a laptop in a while, but when I purchased the last couple the pricing at BB was competitive with online prices and actually beat the online prices if you got one of the weekly specials. Naturally they were hoping to regain the sale price with extended warranties and so-on but I still prefer to shop hands on for them. I personally like BB but I do agree with the needed improvements. They are overpriced in many areas as well.
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That's the problem with the business model, they rely on core items with no profit to them to draw people in, then pressure their sales people to attach other products.
 
Talk about idiot customers. Guy buys the "wrong" DVD (idiot) and then expects to return it (opened) the next day (idiot).
 
I won't miss them if they went under. The store I did enjoy more is CompUSA, but they closed up the one in my area. I think it would of done better in a better location.
 
collegeboy69us said:
Good riddance. If I want brick and mortar nerd fun I go to Fry's (the associates that work there are still retarded, but at least they leave you alone)
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Used to work there, Service guys are more educated than most of the regular staff (required to get the A+ cert...unless you already got it), Service desk actually despises customers because they only need us to fix their broken crap, or trying to return something they broke, may as well explain quantum physics to a pile of mud, as telling the customer what they screwed up in their computer build, or why we cannot accept the return of a camera that has been dropped in the toilet is bloody useless.

Other than that it's the usual tosspot giving verbal abuse, you just want to punch out.

Best Buy, pretty much any untrained monkey can get a job there, almost applied, but being given a cheesy agent name, and working with a bunch of clueless twats didn't appeal to me.
 
Stone Cold said:
Talk about idiot customers. Guy buys the "wrong" DVD (idiot) and then expects to return it (opened) the next day (idiot).
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Where does it say opened?

"In part because he was distracted by the “expert” sales staff prying into his personal finances instead of actually providing assistance, my friend mistakenly purchased the wrong DVD of a NASA documentary—he accidentally got one he already had. We returned the next day to exchange it for the correct one. Sorry, said the customer service staff, DVDs are “software” and can’t be returned or exchanged once sold. No exceptions."


Looks like policy is to not accept returns no matter what.
 
pgaster said:
Where does it say opened?

"In part because he was distracted by the “expert” sales staff prying into his personal finances instead of actually providing assistance, my friend mistakenly purchased the wrong DVD of a NASA documentary—he accidentally got one he already had. We returned the next day to exchange it for the correct one. Sorry, said the customer service staff, DVDs are “software” and can’t be returned or exchanged once sold. No exceptions."


Looks like policy is to not accept returns no matter what.
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Ahh...that makes more sense....yeah that is retarded.
 
Unfortunately, most people think BB or Walmart is the only place to buy electronics. Somehow small individual retailers (like Video Only in the Bay Area) are never considered even though they actually have somewhat knowledgeable salespeople and will often negotiate pricing.
 
Topweasel said:
Not to Derail the thread. GoG is a good service, but its not why Best Buy no longer has a real PC gaming section. That is console/Steam's fault.
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Mostly the industries fault, they saw the rapidly rising numbers of consoles out there, and thought the PC was on deaths door, if it wasn't for Steam it would be.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Then you should be a fan of Amazon.com and Newegg as you don't have to do either with them. Unlike Best buy where you pay a 15% restocking fee on electronics.
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Interesting because Newegg does

http://www.newegg.com/HelpInfo/FAQDetail.aspx?Module=6

When and why are restocking fees applied? How much is deducted when a return is subject to a restocking fee?
There is a restocking fee of 15% on all returns for refund (RMA Refund), unless waived by a Customer Support Agent. We charge this 15% restocking fee for all returns for refund to encourage customers to purchase products they intend to keep. We offer RMA Replacement without any restocking fee to support customers who have received a defective product. For CPU and Memory refunds, any restocking fee we use will be a reflection on current market value for the same cpu item. Newegg.com does not support attempts to profit from CPU and Memory price fluctuations.
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Im pretty sure Amazon does as well

Best Buy only charges restocking fees on special orders. Yeah I know they used to charge the 15% on electronics, but to my knowledge they don't anymore.
 
I don't know the last time I have been to Best Buy or considered buying from there. All of my tech shopping is done online or at Frys / Microcenter. HHgreg just opened up near me too, but I haven't been there yet.
 
Thanks for the article Steve. I haven't had bad experiences like the author, but I can totally imagine this stuff happening, and I have been treated well by Amazon. Customer relations really seems to be key. I would write more if I were not on my phone, but good article, worth the read.
 
I recently worked out of a best buy as an external wireless sales associate (part time to help pay for christmas) -- The store I was at, actually had some very knowledgeable sales associates -- at least beyond my expectations. It really varies from store to store though. I really didnt like how it was run, my impressions of upper management was quite negative in many cases.

Also, it seems best buy profit margins mostly comes from service, extended warrantys, and HDMI cables. For the most part their laptops and tv's listed in the weekly ad tend to be competitively priced. I hate best buy, but would be sad to see them go. I do like to visit them to look at things in person, but i rarely buy anything outside of an occasional blu-ray movie or corsair h60 cooler when they price match newegg (which they have done for me twice in the past)
 
MacLeod said:
1. I don't get all the hate towards Best Buy.

2. They sell a lot more than computer shit.

3. They have a fairly decent car audio section

4. A great TV section and lots of other appliances and virtually all of their stuff is in line as any other retailer price wise. Stuff they don't have in store you can order online with free shipping.

5. I saw headphones mentioned. They've also got Sennheiser which are among the best and they have the HD598's on sale for $175. They're $250 on Amazon.

6. Their salespeople don't know shit but they only make $8/he so what do you expect.
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1. Because they are a predatory corporation that leeches off the uninformed consumer by doing things like selling a $2.50 HDMI for $60. Eventually, most people that are uninformed consumers evolve into informed consumers.

2. Well, yes, they are a department store, afterall.

3. Their car audio selection sucks. After about a month of research and visiting forums dedicated to car audio, I was able to learn that everything BB sells in terms of car audio is low to low-mid grade goods at very high prices.

4. I agree with this. And anything in the store they will price-match. When it comes to appliances and similar, sometimes they can be dickered with to beat the lowest competitors price by a couple/few % to lock in the sale.

5. Yes, sometimes they do have a rare good deal. But, they are named Best Buy, and they rarely live up to that name.

6. I expect better product knowledge from the associates. If I walk in to a store to investigate advice on which product will meet my needs the best, I EXPECT decent, honest, and intellectual help. I don't give a shit if the staffmember is making $8/hr or $80/hr... if they won't learn some product knowledge to assist customers, they need to be canned asap, as there will always be 100 more people waiting in line for the job that will learn product knowledhe and actively apply it when interfacing with customers.
 
8 bucks an hour? I turned down 10.50 for PC Sales about 6 years ago.
 
pigwalk said:
8 bucks an hour? I turned down 10.50 for PC Sales about 6 years ago.
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Obviously this depends where you live. Back in the day, minimum wage was 5.15/hr and in California, 10/hr was a minimum (complete guess but making an example).
 
Crosshairs said:
I bought a 2 bank battery tender from Amazon 2 weeks ago..it was $20.00 cheaper than anyone local... one bank did not work..They sent me a new one the next day and sent a pre paid label for me to return the defective one at my earliest convenience ....

There is a reason Amazon is as big and successful as they are...and its not from pushing extended warranty's on over priced TV sets
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Amazon are good to deal with, I bought a digital TV antenna from them, someone stole it off my doorstep, they sent another free.

Newegg are great too, I bought an external harddrive enclosure, it didn't work so they sent me another one free, told me to keep the original one... Which I found later did actually work... I was being an idiot. They weren't expensive only $20 each, but that is service.
 
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