The 60 price match/60 day return policy(upgraded from 45 days ) was one of the primary reasons I didn't mind impulse buying an item that may not truly be "worth" the amount I paid. This was a true benefit/perk of being a Silver member but now with the price match part being basically neutered by being limited to just 14 days & only available from BB/BB.com I see myself adjusting my spending completely.

 

In all fairness, I think I understand what the true problem(s) are RENTERS. A person can get a digital camera & use it on vacation, upload the pics & return the camera. Now BB has to sell the camera for at least 10% off as a open box item and that's just not fair. This can also be a problem with really big ticket items like TV's especially during the Superbowl. So why not adjust the return policy & add the restock feees to items that are high risk for renters to reduce this behavior altogether.

 

Number one since this perk is geared towards your "premier customer" base the $2500 spending  requirement should already weed out alot of the renters anyways. You should also look at what the competition does & have exclusions for different items like the big ticket items so TV's, PC's, laptops, IPAD's should have the 14 day limit. If they go over the 14 days then the restock fee should apply or something along that line.

 

You could also charge a flat yearly fee that would negate restock fees but this would be a tougher sell since it's hard to predict the future unless a person is set on returning tons of unopened items. And come to thnk of it unopened items are the ones you should really be focused on.

 

 

There's definitely a middle ground that can be found on this issue which will keep RZ Silver members happy & protects BB frkm renters. I just comes down to BestBuy being willing to admit a mistep & make the right decision that keep good will strong.

Hopefully, this is the start.

This is the first year I've been Premiere Silver and to-date the only "wow" perk I've gotten is a free $5 certificate that showed up randomly on my account.  I think Best Buy should really go back to the drawing board on this program and really figure out what it means to be premiere.  It reminds me of when you get a credit card and they tell you that you'll have priority access to concerts and events and I think back and I've never been notified of a single one yet.  

 

Best Buy should work harder to create a value there.  Yes Extended returns are nice but that's not really a perk because with technology items you know almost right away if you like something or not.  If you travel a lot this may be nice because you may take something with you, try it out and find you don't like it and you have more time to return it - but this is a very niche group.

 

Here's some ideas: 

 

(1) Allow RZ Premiere Silver members the option of "Self Checkout" for purchases under $500.  Similar to what the Apple store does you would be able to use the Best Buy App to self checkout yourself on small (non-high theft) items.  So if I want a new pair of headphones that you don't mind stocking 200 of on the floor with no security, why can't I buy them on the floor and have the guy at the door (I see they've returned) check my receipt?

 

(2) Premiere Silver parking.  How about designating the first couple of slots in the parking lot for Premiere Silver parking like they used to do back in the day for in-store pickup?

 

(3) Free upgraded express repairs.  Problems with TVs, Appliances, Computers, etc. get free escalation.

 

(4) Free online cloud storage/backup.  50GB of free online storage (similar to Google Drive, iCloud, SkyDrive).  Best Buy could really capitalize here and partner up with Box.com (they give out 50GB of free storage like it's candy!).  Or they could use this as an opportunity to partner with Carbonite or Sugar Sync and boost these guys into the spotlight as well (for a back-end fee of course).

 

(5) More Premiere Silver shopping nights with products people actually buy.  The "deals" advertised at these events are terrible.  It's on HP printers or HP all-in-ones with AMD processors or an i3.  There's no deal in that.  Give me a store-wide 5-10% off coupon.  Or  a 10-15% off MSRP for open box/clearance (that's a win, win because you can really blow these out).

 

(6) Offer (and follow thru) on Black Friday exclusives.  Let premiere silver members in an hour earlier (almost like a private shopping event) but on Black Friday.  Lets be honest - most of the stuff that's sold on Black Friday is the lower end stuff and your Premiere Silver shoppers didn't get where they are by buying that mess - but why should they wait in line to spend 3-5x what the door buster customer is looking to buy? Let them be in and out. 

 

(7) To drive cell phone upgrades 25% off 3 accessories when upgrading a phone (i.e. shielf, car charger, case) when Premiere Silver customers upgrade their lines thru Best Buy as opposed to AT&T, Sprint, VZ.   I usually don't use Best Buy for anything cell phones because you have to wait ages to talk to someone but this could offer an incentive. 

 

(8) Free trial to Best Buy services.  For instance 6 months of free CinemaNow.  This is also a win-win for Best Buy because it spotlights services that customers may not be aware of.  When people get stuff for free they jump on it even if they have no use for it because there's a feeling of there being "no real loss."  But if they enjoy it, they'll find value in keeping it so this creates a subscription stream for Best Buy.  This could be how Best Buy kind of propels itself against bigger names like NetFlix and RedBox or evan competitors like Walmart and Amazon. 

 

Again another year of website crashing due to all of the traffic during the early access sale.  If Best Buy would only offer the access to their loyal customers instead of anyone who has obtained silver access through whatever method, this would not have been an issue. 

 

Why not reward your true loyal customers who actually spend the $2500 at Best Buy, instead of giving access to Reward Zone Master Card members who spend $2500 anywhere they feel like, members who somehow got upgraded for free for an unknown reason, and members who bought an item with the bonus of Silver premier access attached to it. 

 

The Silver Premier membership has become a joke and it isn't special anymore.  The perks keep getting smaller, because more people are able to benefit from them without being a regular customer.  Even the free shipping has become more frequent throughout the year where anyone who purchases an item can receive free shipping.

 

It definitely would be a change for the better and your best customers would be able to actually have the chance to benefit.  So hopefully it will get looked into for future special events, seeing it's your loyal customers, who actually spend money at Best Buy, keeping your business going. 

I read in your ads that you say you can upgrade to "X" amount of ram and a bigger hard drive for a little more money. That is fine. But it seems more of an upsell then to customize a computer.

 

But some customers who may walk into your store may be intimidated by prices and or specs. At least group your desktops into sections, one for Gaming, One for Basics , One section for business use , etc.

 

And Insignia , by entering into the PC monitor market, lets hope you can expand this to entry level desktops and deliver even more value on the solid brand you already have in the store.

BestBuy should make an application for the Windows 8 store front and the Xbox 360 so that BestBuy customers can buy product's off of the Xbox 360 and the Windows 8 store front.

I have been reading a bit about Best Buy's problems in the WSJ, Wired, etc,. Best Buy has gotten away from thinking like the innovator.  If they want to utilize the best assets that they can provide over Amazon.com (online) or Apple, they need to think like a home user.

 

In your showrooms, start showing a combination of products being used as an innovator in a home would use them.  For example, the XBox360 has had the ability to store or capture movies, music, etc,. from the cloud or from another personal computer for years; yet, Best Buy doesn't show these capabilities in their store.  I suspect that the Geed Squad can do more then just tune TV's and PC's for novice users.  Let them build systems that show off the cutting edge capabilities of the products that tied the many different systems together.  Everyone has a PC.  Show pictures, music, and movies loaded on the PC, then show how various systems (XBox360, PS3, iPad) can display these pictures.  These are items that everyone has in their homes, but only the innovators take the time to figure out.  This is where you can set yourself apart, by doing instore demostrations on how to set these up.  Or maybe even YouTube videos that show this, that point people to Best Buy to get more help.  How about just showing a Big Screen TV hooked up to a PC.  Late Majority adoptors with PC's and Big Screens probably don't even realize how easy this is to do.

 

Use the assets that you have to your advantage.

When people post reviews online, they are posting their personal experience with a product.  When people go onto their reviews and down-rank them just because it's not something they would personally purchase it actually creates an environment where people don't like leaving feedback/product reviews.   Why not keep things positive and have a thumbs up option and if you don't agree, you don't agree.

 

 

Recently in the world of Apple, there has been an influx in the number of Apple's product lines featuring Flash Storage.  I know there has been an influx in sales around the MacBook Air and the Retina MacBooks so customers are certainly responding positvely to this newer, faster technology.  

 

My suggestion is for Best Buy to carry a CTO option on both the 21.5" and 27" iMacs and Mac Minis with Fusion.  This would make great sense for Best Buy because on the new iMacs, the minor bumps on processor speed and graphics is not that ground breaking - yet offering a Fusion offer, while more expensive, would create a wider-variance product selection.

 

On Mac Minis, I would make it a 2.3GHz i7, 8GB DDR3 Memory and 1TB Fusion Drive, which would come out to $1149.  If you're not looking to do graphic design or gaming this system would give you better performance than the entry level iMac for $150 less.  Also, considering you can download the Mac OS X Server software for $19.99 this is the ultimate home/home office/SMB server made simple without all the IT people.

 

I also have noticed supply on iMacs is really bare so maybe start with the mini to test pentration and if it does well try it with iMacs when it does become available.  

Cinema Now is cool, but let's face it, there's a lot of competition from Amazon, Vudu, Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, and the various other forms of digitally distributed movies. Why don't you guys implement a feature that would allow customers to create an instant library of movies based on the physical DVD or BluRay movies they have already purchased at Best Buy over the years? With the Reward Zone's history keeping track of purchases, I have to imagine that it would be easy to verify a customers ownership. I would think this would give CinemaNow an edge that the competition cannot match.

In order to better compete with Gamestop and any other companies taking game trades currently, Best Buy must find a way to be able to get on the same ground as Gamestop and those companies. In order to do this, Best Buy must get their trade in program seperated from the rest of the company and set up independently as a specialty chain. That is what allows places like Gamestop to immediately put the games, systems and other items that they take in for trade out on the shelves for sale without having to adhere to pawn laws. Albeit there may be exceptions to this depending on the jurisdiction and the prevailing laws there.

 

I have noticed that every single game I have purchased pre-owned from Best Buy has been resurfaced/cleaned before being repackaged and sent back to the stores as there is a distinct swirling pattern that you will notice if you fog up the bottom of the discs by breathing on it. In my opinion, this is wholly unnecessary and a very wasteful process unless the games are in poor shape to begin with. Not only that but this delays games getting sent back to stores while they are waiting their turn in the machine.

 

Moreover, games for the Playstation 3 system typically would not need this buffing/cleaning due to the hard scratch resistant coating on the discs themselves. Unfortunately once that coating is removed and unless it's somehow resealed with the same type of coating, those discs are worse than a normal CD and scratch very easily.

 

Anyway, it is my opinion that if Best Buy were to spin off their trade in program into a seperate chain that they could gain the status as a specialty retailer and circumvent the restrictions that are causing them to lose precious time by having to ship out everything they take in and hold onto it for weeks/months right now.

 

Hopefully someone higher up in the company can see this as well and will consider green lighting this idea.

I've heard a lot about best buy being in jeopardy of going out of business due to the expense of having a physical store.  This makes it easy for competing on line businesses to undercut the prices offered at best buy, and in some cases Best Buy even aids in selling product for other companies by allowing the customer a place to demo the product before buying it elsewhere.  This troubles me because I like Best Buy and I like that there is somewhere I can go to put my hands on the newest electronic products before buying them.  I believe that the answer here is selling best buy memberships. 

 

This is how and why I think it would work.  Like Sam's Club or Cosco, the only people that would be aloud to enter the store would be members.  Annual memberships would be sold at a rate that would allow for the store to supplement the sale price of items to a competitive level with on-line retailers.  If someone wants to come in and see how a TV looks and then go buy it from somewhere else, they will have at least paid for a membership.  Like with anything else, loyalty is key.  If you have a best buy membership that you have paid for, you have went to the store to try the product out, and you are seeing comparable prices at the store and on line, everyone will be compelled to purchase with Best Buy due to the laws of reciprocity if for no other reason.  Plenty of people will tell you that they won't shop at best buy if they need a membership, but as the other stores go out of business they will be back.  Once consumers realize that there's no where else to "try before you buy", they'll come buy a membership. 

 

This business model would work invariably because people still want to go see a product before they buy it.  It would work for Best Buy because they already have the stores.  I know I would certainly buy a membership to Best Buy, even if the price was on the steep side as long as the in store prices where cut down to that of all the on line retailers.  Be the first to adopt this and you will be around way after Sears, JC Penny, K-Mart, Radio Shack, etc. 

Let's be honest:  Best Buy hasn't been (price-wise) the "Best Buy" for a while now,  but the customer service and product knowldege made up for that.

 

Nowadays, it seems like product knowledge and customer service have taken a seat to warranties, services and financing. Instead of telling me about the product, the employees rush to tell me about how they protect it if it drops or the screen cracks and it makes the entire interaction just sour and awkward.  It's like if you ask a car salesman about a car and he starts ranting about insurance in case someone t-bones you; there's a time and a place and that's not it. 

 

First things first.  I watched the "Investor Day" webcast and they mention "no employee goes untrained."  I've seen a lot of employees first hand that have gone untrained.  Especially around Apple products - no you're not the majority, but it's like when you go to a restaurant and you ask for water and they give you "the water cup" versus if you ask for a soda and they give you the "big gulp" cup.  Is it really a shock that we battle obseity?  This is something that should be shipped ASAP - regardless of price if Best Buy employees don't speak my language (which is currently Mac) - I'd rather shop online or at an Apple store, regardless of price.   On the same note, when Best Buy has Macs cheaper and the Apple stores with 1/3 of the stores are way outselling Best Buy- customers agree with me 200%.

 

Also, introduce Passbook integration. Get with the times and stop making people carry around all these papers and cards.  As an example if I buy a computer, I have to fill out a paper.  If I want tech support - I get a card for Tech Support and I have a reward zone card and a Best Buy card.  I'm going to get a receipt (or get it emailed as I usually do) and a terms and conditions pamplet.  I walk out of Best Buy buying a computer with a bag full of papers and cards feeling like I just bought a house/car and signed up for a bunch of credit cards. 

 

Lastly, introduce self-checkout.  It's fine if you're cutting back on labor because you don't have holiday traffic but why make customers wait in long lines for simple purchases.  If you're worried about shrink set a price limit on it.  I should be able to come in and buy an iPhone case or an iPhone cable without waiting in line for 30 minutes.  The same goes for putting product out.  A lot of stores I visit have a bad habit of locking stuff up. I understand it prevents theft - it also prevents sales.  I can't buy what I don't see on the shelf for me to purchase.  A lot of the times I want to be in/out.  I don't want to ask for something, wait for someone to check to see if they have it, and then have to wait for them to go and find it.  Life is short and time's precious.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where there are new processors (like Ivy Bridge) - there is new RAM speeds/standards.  I went to Best Buy to upgrade my MacBook's ram only to find out you guys don't carry 1600MHz RAM - yet you carry DDR2 RAM?   

 

When you have Macs and "Value [less]" laptops that come with 2-4GB of RAM, you should offer an option for customers to upgrade them.  Bonus for you - most customers won't know how to do this so this could sell you some Geek Squad services.

 

Thanks BB.

 

PS: also, stop asking for thoughts on good suggestions and start working towards implementing them.  Good ideas should start on paper and end in action, just saying. 

while advertising for the companies that has the best rep representing the product it also brings i a million or more people in to your place and on top of it you are advertising companies product so that they get the product out, and you both come otu on top of it because they get there product to the right people and you get the people that you need to get in your place to buy all the rest of the products its like killing ten birds with one stone. While your a electronics store you give free products to buyers at your store who purchase products, and than you are making money from the advertisement or building business relationships with no cost that brings tons of more custoemrs that you ne4ed to your store, and you could do it every week and probably be the biggest electronics store again and make more profits than frys electronics. Because every business needs incentives because of the amount of competition and its the only way to get the customers to the store and if the prices are right and good and at the right location you have sold your business to you rcustomer and know they are only going to go to your store, but since you ar giving free products each week , for advertisement for the other company. You are able to sell them stuff at a ok price and still get them back because of the great things you do and offer so either way it goes with the idea you come out on the top of the situation. And since the company that want sto advertise there product to the right people so it spreads like wild fire because it only takes a couple thousand people to spread your business to a million people with a couple months. I think it would be a great incentives, with business relationships, and advertisement idea with other companies and offers a guaranteed customer ratio every week for the business so you now at least it will pull oy uthrough the hard times either way, AS TO SAY IT WILL KEEP YOU RUNNING IN ANY RECESSION. Alright thats my first idea within a year.

Convert your vendors such as HP, Samsung, HTC, and etc into partners, invest into them. Best Buy sells their products and should flex it's muscle a bit to set some standards and change the quality of the products and processes. One example, many of the products carried at the store have unnecessary packaging why? Make the packaging smaller. That would allow for more space on trucks, which could lead to more deliveries per truck even more warehouse space and smaller stores or making the warehouse smaller. Another thing is to share information. If the customers dislike a certain product share that information with your vendors/partners., This would let them know what they need to work on to make a more sound product. This could on on....

Working at a big box store In Austin (store 204) I have noticed that over the past several months we have had an extreme influx of open item appliances  sent to the store from not only our store but surrounding stores in the area. The problem is so bad that no matter how many and how aggressively we price them we receive more open items faster then we can sell them. Resulting in open items prohibiting us from correctly putting out new appliances designated on plano and violating sop for not having appliances on the race track the majority of the  items we receive  are through no fault of our own in terms of not selling the item correctly the first time but rather physical damage that occurs upon delivery.

 

My suggestion would to be to open a stand alone best buy open box outlet store in central Austin, San Marcos or  the new branfeuls AREA where the best buys in the surrounding area could send primarily their open item appliances with the option to expand to  home theatre televisions and possible computers but with the main focus being appliance open items/ end of life or deleted items.

 

why this would work:

 

1 . South and central Austin especially have  a market of clients that rent houses, flip houses that are always looking to buy cheap but really hate the hassle of traveling to different stores to get the various open items the cheapest they can.

2. It would relieve the strain on our store as well as others with the constant overflow of open items prohibiting us from putting out new product and causing us to violate sop

3. Save time and money spent by the employees trying to spit their time from receiving tagging and putting out open items while trying to sell new products and handle customer issues in regards to the open items

4. The store would not need as big of staffing as a regular bby store in that it would just have to focus on employees familiar with appliances and the oms system with some customer experience employees

.

5. The inventory of the store would be solely open items and at risk/ end of life product which would help with the sale of those items before we send them back at a significant loss\

6. The idea can be extended to other markets with the similar situation

7. It gives the customer who is looking for discounted appliances a clear and unified place to look vs. Driving everywhere to find the one open item they are looking for decreasing the chance they will give up and go somewhere closer and more convinent that is not best buy.

 

I think if you take into consideration all the pros in this idea that you will find it is a great solution for the problem we have

thanks for your time and consideration

There is a new market that is rising quickly and it seems only radio shack is aware of this, and this is the DIY hobbyists sector of the market. With the growing popularity of such products as arduino and the raspberry pi, it has become cheaper than ever to build whatever people want but there is a problem with this sector of the market and that is radio shack seems to be the only brick and mortar (with limited products on the shelf) that I can find to get small items such as resistor or wire with online shopping the only other place to purchase these type of items, usually having to pay $5 shipping on a $.50 item. This seems to be an untapped market that has yet to be touched by any big retailers. I also feel that if best buy were to market and sell this market segment, then it would allow more people to become aware of these products and purchase the items. When I tell my friends about electrical hobbyists stuff, the biggest turn off seems to be the online searching for all of the little items needed, but if all of the major needed products were in one place then this would allow more prototyping by the general market such as kids to learn and older folks easier access. By far the biggest advantage best buy is comparable prices to online shopping but no shipping cost to the customer and immediate access to the items wanted. Items would include but not limited to: arduino products, raspberry pi (I know it will take some time) products, remote control (rc) products, electrical wire, resistors, led's, breadboards, switches, buttons, battery packs, lcd screens, capacitors, and ohm meters. Please add items I have forgotten in this list.

How to restore/increase business profitability and provide services and products that are really in demand.

Step 1: Accept that the old model of big box high ticket low margin merchandise sales that lead to up-sold high-margin add-ons, cables, and warranty plans is dead and no longer working.  Your shrinking market (the rich, the tech-illiterate, and the naive)

 

Exhibit A: Customers can get the same high ticket Audio/Video products online cheaper (Amazon, newegg, slickdeals, etc.)

Exhibit B: Customers can get comparable high-margin cables and add-ons for 1000% cheaper online (monoprice)

Exhibit C: More online information and ready access has rendered the need for basic product knowledgeable sales staff useless (cnet, hometheater, dpreviews, etc.)

Exhibit D: Improved Product longevity and tech gimmick refresh has rendered warranty plans a waste of money.  You're product buy back plan is a slightly better option if we choose to make the same expensive mistake we did the first time.

Exhibit E: CD and DVD/BluRay sales are dying.  Disk media takes up space, less portable, and lots of content is crap not worth paying $15-40 for. Streaming and download are cheaper, portable, and available from your couch. The only exception to this are console games (see Exhibit C, Recommendation C)

Exhibit F: Geek Squad services are decreasing.  Computer hardware is becoming cheaper, more disposable and less important as data moves onto the cloud.

 

Step 2: Embrace a new model that your customers are already abusing you for and others that should be clearly obvious.

 

Exhibit A: Showroom club membership.  The lure of a customer into a store is no longer a guaranty they will buy something.  Meanwhile BestBuy stocks slow moving expensive inventory that people  armed with a CNET review come in to try, note the current retail market price, take a snapshot with their phone, make a decision about which Audio/Video equipment is better, and then go online to buy the same brand/model cheaper.

 

Recommendation A:  If BestBuy closed, where would people go to try out something they might want to buy?  Magnolia was a decent concept.  Expand not by opening more big-box stores but by leveraging current retail space for club showroom memberships where pre-paid members would get full access to the latest array of Audio/Video/computer show pieces to test and try out. 

 

Recommendation B: open smaller boutique BestBuy show-room and shipping only locations where club members can come in and try products.  Let your showroom club memberships subsidize your limited boutique in-stock inventory.

 

Recommendation C: Allow showroom club members to have items purchased from BestBuy or other online merchants to be shipped to a BestBuy boutique showroom or participating store where the boutique studio can have the Audio/Video items set up in a custom environment based on the member's home theater dimensions/layout so the member can try them out and decide if he wants to keep it.  If unsatisfied, the member can return the item for a refund and purchase another.  Alternatively offer competitive pricing if the member chooses to purchase a comparable item from BestBuy online instead. 

 

Recommendation D: Offer A/V classes on how to properly set up your home theater, what to look for in speakers, receivers, HD TV's and projectors, seating, wall paint, and other items the boutique showroom can be used for to provide an enhanced service to showroom club members and get them exposed and familiar with BestBuy "recommended" products.

 

Exhibit B: Wedding Registry - as another user already mentioned.  More women are becoming tech-dependent and savvy.  More couples are registering at multiple merchants offering more variety to their wedding guests.  This should be obvious.  The 10% off coupon alone on all remaining unpurchased registry items is enough alone to clear some inventory.

 

Recommendation A: Offer wedding, sweet 16, and Quincinera registries to take advantage of the youth and growing Hispanic population.

 

 

Exhibit C: Secondary Game market - as another user also mentioned.  The Gaming industry is HOT and no longer only for kids.  Many Gamers do have to have the game as soon as it comes out.  However, with shifts in the pricing models of console companies and online package add-ons, as well as online rentals, more are delaying purchase in lieu of cheaper prices.

 

Recommendation A: Enter the used Games market and compete with GameStop.  The arbitrage for used games is huge.  Buy/trade in low and sell for 75% or 50% off the original price.  Turn a low margin product into a high margin product. 

 

Recommendation B: More adults are into gaming as they are the grown up kids from the original gaming generation.  However, not all have the time to buy and play the latest games so they delay purchase or seek to rent.

 

Recommendation C: Negotiate with Microsoft and Sony to allow online Map-packs to be sold in stores.  While it is convenient to download them straight to my xbox, I hate that I have to first buy MS points which never match up to the cost of the item and then browse through the horrific menu looking for the download and hope to have a fast enough connection to download and install the pack.  I also hate how I have to have a credit card stored and can't just pay cash making my account vulnerable if xbox or Sony gets hacked...again.

 

Exhibit D: Lens rentals and increase your photography portfolio.  Another user mentioned increasing your brand name lenses for photography equipment.  Seeing as Ritz and some other photography places have shut their doors, Best Buy is a prime location for serving the growing prosumer photography and professional market.  Just about every mid-20's bachelor I know has gotten into photography (not only as a way to meet pretty women) and every new mother I know has also gotten into photography and videography.

 

Recommendation A: Expand your photography line to include more lenses and adaptors for popular brands.  Note: Olympus is going bankrupt, stock compatible lenses or of stable brands.

 

Recommendation B: Rent lenses.  Again, take advantage of the try before you buy market.  The difference here is you can't

try it out just by looking at it.  A good trial requires taking it out for a day or two, hooking it up to your camera, and taking various indoor/outdoor day/night shots with your camera at different settings.  Most of us in the DC/VA area have to drive into DC or at least 20 miles to the nearest lens rental area.  What if BestBuy offered such a service.  Hey now there's a good way to get us in the door and have us paying for something for a change.

 

Recommendation C: The Home Depot DIY effect.  Offer beginning/intermediate/advanced photography courses at your stores.  Surely there are some photography enthusiasts among your employees or just pool from your local social sources such as facebook and local singles sites.  It's a great way to generate a virtuous cycle of new customers that increase their buying/renting interest that can also become a social forum for people to meet, make new friends, and even date.  Best Buy could become the coffee shop of the 20-teens.

 

Exhibit E: Get a real online store.  Your online store has an identity crisis.  Is it an online catalog or an online store?  Why should I go to bestbuy.com when I can get the same thing Tax free and free shipping everywhere else.  The reviews are usually the only thing of value.  Again, people are going to your site just to do research but not actually buy anything. The tax free option may be difficult to overcome but your inventory should be 10-20% cheaper online than in store.  Find out if there are ways to resell and to sell items online without paying taxes in states that don't have a sales tax as well as to states that do.

 

Recommendation A: NewEgg approach: offer black-Friday style discounts on specific items each day.  Whether they are overstocked items or items you are able to pass on deeper savings.  We may not need an extra 8 GB thumb drive right now, but if you offer one up cheaper than any one else, I might be tempted to buy it from you now instead of someone else down the road. 

 

Recommendation B: Train your customer.  This daily deal discount works on the converse side as well.  As with NewEgg.com, which sends daily eBlast deals via email, after viewing these a few times you start to see items that frequently re-appear.  If I know that various quality brand subwoofers that are regularly listed at discount on these emails appear, I may put off purchasing from another online store or big box store because I know it'll show up eventually. 

 

Recommendation C: Quarterly BlackFriday -Give a little to get a lot.  Occasionally take an item that is really in demand and surprise-hit your Showroom club members with a "guerrilla discount" or "discount ambush" (I'm trademarking those if available).  Without notice, send out an email at 1AM PST/3AM CST/4AM EST (possibly randomize the release times) listing a limited time/limited quantity offer of 50-60% off for 24 hours on a specific high demand item.  Something like a Definitive Technology SuperCube I Subwoofer (reg $999) for $499 (100 available - limit 1 per customer). Call of Duty Black Ops 2 (reg $59.99) for $30 (500 available limit 1 per customer).  Sure you'll take an initial hit but like a lottery, you'll make up for it in showroom club memberships once publicity gets out.

 

Recommendation D: The double-dip.  If legal, as a follow up to Recommendation C above, allow unlimited purchases of a limited offering high demand product at 25-30% discount and allow your showroom club members to resell the item on your online store for about the same commission or Amazon or ebay might impose for resellers with free shipping to stores and boutique showrooms.  This adds further value to the Showroom club membership, allows BestBuy to recoup some margin on the sales, and gets more people into it's boutique and showrooms to pick up their new items and anything else they might have happened to forget to buy.

 

The last and most important reason why anyone still actually would buy something from BestBuy as opposed to online is the simple necessity of "I need it right now and I can't wait for shipping".  Boutique and in-store inventory should always be low but only swell during times when this might occur for a particular product.  Hint: new TV's the day before and day of the SuperBowl or other major televised events.  Another option would be to offer more of those airport kiosks near red-box kiosks to capitalize on the after-hours "oh-crap" my disk broke, controller broke, ipod broke, battery died moments.

I have other ideas but this is all I have time for right now.

 

SC