Best Buy To Combat "Showrooming"

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
Best Buy plans to combat showrooming by providing more "training" to 50,000 employees. Umm, what?? The last thing anyone wants is to be pestered by BB employees. I have an idea to combat showrooming, offer competitive prices compared to online retailers, axe the Geek Squad and quit making your employees bug your customers. ;)

Best buy will provide new intensive induction to 50,000 U.S. employees beginning in August. The company also will focus on return on investments, leaving no sacred cows, reducing the retail footprint and relying on alliances with outside groups to drive sales, he said. He referred to Best Buy as a "personalized technology solutions" company.
Click to expand...
 
I envision a concierge service where if you sing a contract to purchase a five year replacement plan up front and subscribe to any four of twenty-five prestigious publications for a discounted price, they will help you purchase the one model of TV they have in stock of the size you want. As you exit the airlock, and reclaim 90% of the clothing and valuables you checked on the way in as you donned your disposable paper jumpsuit, you will be informed that your TV is no longer in stock and will be delivered in 3-6 weeks to within a block of your home. The service will ocntinue to improve from there.
 
I dunno how they're planning to stop the showroom problem without hiding things inside display cases where they can't be touched.
 
So they're trying to combat the primary reason most people like us would ever even go there in the first place?

Good luck with that.
 
Steve said:
offer competitive prices compared to online retailers
Click to expand...

The problem is that they cant do that. There is far too much overhead with the cost of running a building and the employees. I personally don't see them lasting much longer.
 
sounds like they're going to train the geeks in a different way to bug you, not bugging you less.

probably means selling you extra shit services you can't get online. If that is the case, I hope most people are smart enough to decline extra services at extra cost.

speaking of extra services, they could probably sell more stuff if they provide extra services for free; services that most people will likely not use, but are good to have anyway.
 
raz-0 said:
I envision a concierge service where if you sing a contract to purchase a five year replacement plan up front and subscribe to any four of twenty-five prestigious publications for a discounted price, they will help you purchase the one model of TV they have in stock of the size you want. As you exit the airlock, and reclaim 90% of the clothing and valuables you checked on the way in as you donned your disposable paper jumpsuit, you will be informed that your TV is no longer in stock and will be delivered in 3-6 weeks to within a block of your home. The service will ocntinue to improve from there.
Click to expand...

Well done Sir. Well done. :D
 
Use show rooming to your advatage BB! Best advertising is in-person advertising.

Move you dvd/blu-ray/games/software to your online catalog. Use the extra space to set up demo stations for home theater and computer experience. Lower the amount of panels you have on display, focusing on high end and low end, this contrasts a bigger difference in image quality so the consumer wont be so fickle. Drop the super expensive cabling and concentrate more on the PROPER hardware to have to set up an hd system.

For the left over space have banners advertising your online products and pricing. Make sure they are in the correct areas (movies in the tv section, software in the computer section. Offer deals for ordering stuff in the store to encourage foot traffic.
 
MavericK96 said:
So they're trying to combat the primary reason most people like us would ever even go there in the first place?

Good luck with that.
Click to expand...

In other words, even less people will go and this is in turn supposed to increase sales. Huh :confused:
 
So you run a store full of physical goods, that's what you do.

You don't do anything else except try to hawk the customer into buying worthless warranty extensions.

How do you make this transformation?

Make the customer swear to buy something?
Like the person above said....put everything behind a display case?
Make a reservation?
Leave a deposit?

What a poor idea. How about relevant products at a reasonable price?:eek:
 
" The company also will focus on return on investments, leaving no sacred cows, reducing the retail footprint and relying on alliances with outside groups to drive sales, he said."

Holy canned response, Batman. LOL
What a load of crap!!
 
HD kits arent a bad idea either. Include all the peices needed to set up your equipment for a little more then buying each peice individually.
 
Here's the results of the training. Seems very effective.

welcome-to-best-buy-of-and_o_148704.jpg
 
Seems like they are doing the opposite of what people want. I also don't know how they would stop showrooming unless like SkribbelKat said locking up the products. They probably will start putting everything in those stupid plastic boxes or just have pictures of the actual products. Or they might do what Target and Costco are doing and have the manufacturers create the same product with different boxes and maybe change something slightly so that there will be a different barcode and makes it a little more difficult to scan the barcode using an app and get price comparisons to many of the online retailers.
 
The only thing I have bought at BB in the last year is 1 movie and 1 harddrive. If they go this way, I will not even bother doing that anymore probably.
 
I don't know about you guys but I'm still the guy who'd rather pay a couple extra bucks for the convenience of walking into a store and getting what I want, need right now today, instead of ordering on-line and waiting for it to be shipped.
Problem is BestBuy no longer stocks any worthwhile items. Making Razer Mice, WD, Seagate, most Corsair items, most graphics cards ect. ect. ect. 'MARKETPLACE ITEMS' has completely eliminated me as a BestBuy customer. Hell I used to drop a fair amount of cash on PC items and I havn't even driven by a BestBuy in over a year.
STOCK YOUR STORES WITH MERCHANDISE THAT PEOPLE WANT TO BUY AND THEY WILL COME !!!!
 
tl;dr a bunch of buzzwords that mean nothing. the reason people leave and go buy their stuff online is that salespeople in Best Buy are uninformed at best, and obnoxious and annoying at worst. How about firing most of these clueless salespeople, cutting the overhead and then making the prices more comparable to online stores? the last thing in the world I want is to have more people trying to sell me stuff as soon as I walk in the door.
 
Sometimes I really like brick and mortar stores for the things they offer you can't get online. I'd gladly pay a little extra to use a TV before I buy it after I read its reviews online. Some products like TVs and Monitors really need to be played with before you buy and I am willing to pay extra for that service alone. The only problem is I am paying extra because they staff the building with retards that don't know a TV from a stereo system. It would be helpful to have an intelligent person on staff to actually give me some real input when purchasing an item.
 
I have $20 in BB gift cards from last Xmas, and I haven't even really had the motivation to go into the store to use them, because they either a) don't have anything I would want or b) have it at an an incredibly marked-up price. That is pretty fucking sad.
 
"....You hear that Mr. Anderson?... That is the sound of inevitability... It is the sound of your death... Goodbye, Mr. Anderson..."
 
Make people pinky swear on their way into the store that they will never, ever buy anything they see in the store that they can buy cheaper elsewhere.

LOL

Failed business model in 3..2...
 
There's no way in hell to make this work. Are they gonna hide all the prices ?
 
They have this problem in the motorcycle gear retail industry. At first the problem was addressed by radically generous return policies that enticed people to buy stuff in person, because they could basically return it anytime for any reason. Apparently though that didn't make enough money because now those stores are shifting to selling almost nothing but shitty low cost proprietary store brand gear that no one with a clue actually wants.
 
Ah..the old can't show it until you buy it trick..beats CS and lower prices every time!
 
TechLarry said:
There's no way in hell to make this work. Are they gonna hide all the prices ?
Click to expand...

Hide the name of the products so people can't comparison shop.

"Excuse me, but what TV is this?"

"WHY DO YOU WANT TO KNOW? YOU CAN SEE IT, ALRIGHT? DO YOU LIKE IT OR NOT?"
 
The sales people are already annoying, now they are going to give them training in being more annoying? I prefer brick and mortar to online and I'll buy from Frys over newegg, best buy doesn't have anything worth buying, everything they stock is the worst out of a group of products and it's overpriced.
 
raz-0 said:
I envision a concierge service where if you sing a contract to purchase a five year replacement plan up front and subscribe to any four of twenty-five prestigious publications for a discounted price, they will help you purchase the one model of TV they have in stock of the size you want. As you exit the airlock, and reclaim 90% of the clothing and valuables you checked on the way in as you donned your disposable paper jumpsuit, you will be informed that your TV is no longer in stock and will be delivered in 3-6 weeks to within a block of your home. The service will ocntinue to improve from there.
Click to expand...

Hahahah excellent!

I like to go to best buy to actually see items in use. Seeing them in person lets me know definitively what I'm going to get vs hoping the spec sheet isn't hiding something when ordering online.
 
My sister asked me for a $400 dollar laptop recommendation. After looking around on Best Buy's website I picked 3 I thought were good deals in her price range. A few days later she goes to pickup her laptop and texts me that she "upgraded". Next day I went over to her house to find out some asshat Best Buy dipshit "upgraded" her for nothing. I told here why I picked what I picked and the differences. Afterwards she was pretty pissed off at the Worst Buy employee who was a moron. If this initiative means more sales training them I'm all for that. I think the Newegg commercial about BB was spot on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYk0dQrz3uc
 
Can't f'ing wait until Best Buy goes out of business. The worst of what a company can do when they want to sell consumers electronics.

My friends asked me to come along with them to Best Buy to help them get a laptop. I picked out the Asus UX31 Ultrabook for her and all they had were OPENED ones that they had gone in and updated, tweaked and then turned around expecting customers to pay the extra $99 dollars on top of the retail price, then they wanted another $99 to make a recovery disc as well. I lost my mind!

I told Best Buy sales reps right to their face that it was blatant rape of consumers pocketbooks. Then some lady came up to me and said, "hey - be nice, that's a really good deal if you think about it." I said, "lady, are you crazy and also brainwashed?"

We drove across town to an Office Depot and bought the same model for $899 on sale.

Best Buy wanted $1199 + tax for the same things. I f'ing hate Best Buy.

We are very lucky to have a Nebraska Furniture Mart in the area and they rock. Hundreds of TV's for nearly online prices. The place is HUUUUUUUGE. You could fit 8 to 10 of the largest Best Buys under their roof.
 
mothman said:
I don't know about you guys but I'm still the guy who'd rather pay a couple extra bucks for the convenience of walking into a store and getting what I want, need right now today, instead of ordering on-line and waiting for it to be shipped.
Problem is BestBuy no longer stocks any worthwhile items. Making Razer Mice, WD, Seagate, most Corsair items, most graphics cards ect. ect. ect. 'MARKETPLACE ITEMS' has completely eliminated me as a BestBuy customer. Hell I used to drop a fair amount of cash on PC items and I havn't even driven by a BestBuy in over a year.
STOCK YOUR STORES WITH MERCHANDISE THAT PEOPLE WANT TO BUY AND THEY WILL COME !!!!
Click to expand...

QFT. about a year ago, my local BB stocked computer cases, cyborg R.A.T. mice, all sorts of nice things. about a month ago, when i started thinking about picking up a new computer case, and was looking for a good mouse, i went back. they were gone, no where to be found. i would've LOVED to be able to buy an Antec nine hundred two computer case locally, drive home, and be able to use it right away, rather than waiting for it to ship to me.
 
raz-0 said:
I envision a concierge service where if you sing a contract to purchase a five year replacement plan up front and subscribe to any four of twenty-five prestigious publications for a discounted price, they will help you purchase the one model of TV they have in stock of the size you want. As you exit the airlock, and reclaim 90% of the clothing and valuables you checked on the way in as you donned your disposable paper jumpsuit, you will be informed that your TV is no longer in stock and will be delivered in 3-6 weeks to within a block of your home. The service will ocntinue to improve from there.
Click to expand...
The Best Buy hate is strong in this one. I like it! :D
 
mothman said:
I don't know about you guys but I'm still the guy who'd rather pay a couple extra bucks for the convenience of walking into a store and getting what I want, need right now today, instead of ordering on-line and waiting for it to be shipped.
Problem is BestBuy no longer stocks any worthwhile items. Making Razer Mice, WD, Seagate, most Corsair items, most graphics cards ect. ect. ect. 'MARKETPLACE ITEMS' has completely eliminated me as a BestBuy customer. Hell I used to drop a fair amount of cash on PC items and I havn't even driven by a BestBuy in over a year.
STOCK YOUR STORES WITH MERCHANDISE THAT PEOPLE WANT TO BUY AND THEY WILL COME !!!!
Click to expand...

Stopped going to BestBuy when they stopped stocking top end video cards, and reduced pc gaming to a single 4 x 8 shelf.
 
TechLarry said:
There's no way in hell to make this work.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they can make it work. They have to fix what is broken, though -- and that starts with better pricing. If prices were the same as an online retailer, I would pick it up from Best Buy. I do this today.

I would rather grab something locally, where I can walk into a store and exchange or return something, rather than dealing with shipping something back and fourth. My last two TVs have been from Best Buy, only after confirming they had the better deal.

They can change their image, but it's going to take a lot of work on their part. And the first thing they have to do is get rid of those damn direct tv dealers that won't leave you alone.
 
OniFactor said:
QFT. about a year ago, my local BB stocked computer cases, cyborg R.A.T. mice, all sorts of nice things. about a month ago, when i started thinking about picking up a new computer case, and was looking for a good mouse, i went back. they were gone, no where to be found. i would've LOVED to be able to buy an Antec nine hundred two computer case locally, drive home, and be able to use it right away, rather than waiting for it to ship to me.
Click to expand...

Yup that BB is long gone...welcome to the smart phone age. :(
 
raz-0 said:
I envision a concierge service where if you sing a contract to purchase a five year replacement plan up front and subscribe to any four of twenty-five prestigious publications for a discounted price, they will help you purchase the one model of TV they have in stock of the size you want. As you exit the airlock, and reclaim 90% of the clothing and valuables you checked on the way in as you donned your disposable paper jumpsuit, you will be informed that your TV is no longer in stock and will be delivered in 3-6 weeks to within a block of your home. The service will ocntinue to improve from there.
Click to expand...

Thread winner by a knock out.
 
Have terminals on every aisle with amazon.com open. Get amazon to pay you 5% sales commision?

It's like what happens now, saves customers time, but this way at least they get 5%. :D
 
I have a funny story about their "geek" squad. My friend went to Best Buy and asked the Geek squad guy if they had any agp GPUs or if they were all PCI express. The geek squad's response "what's the difference?"
 
One of my buddies' brother had his CPU cooler fall off, the plastic tab on one side snapped and the whole thing fell off as a result. They went to BB and they wanted to charge $80 to repair it. They texted me and asked if that sounded right. After asking them to look inside their computer they found the broken tab, I told them, buy some superglue and some thermal paste, and you will save yourself $60+. They have no idea what to do in computers, but I was still able to walk them through with simple text message instructions, and saved them a decent chunk of change. BB is the last place I send people for technology needs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top