Best Buy IdeaX

[#1]

Best Buy is stuck, they are trying to do to0 many things. They need to simplify. They have what it takes to beat amazon, new egg, and other online retailers but they are using them incorrectly. There brick and mortar stores need to become shipping warehouse that allow for customers to still come look around. Shipping should be near free for all customers with a best buy within 30 miles. You could use local hot shots or train current employees. Set up self-checkouts for people buying media and quick buys. Focus on hiring persons with a background similar to that of geek squad. Focus on "wal-mart" business plan, mark all products at the minimum mark up for a profit, plan on selling more at a lower price, have a better social media and viral plan. People are going to miss you when you’re gone; you need to remind them why. Make all of your inventories available (and updated daily) on places like google shopping and your own website. Bundle. Make sure your weekly sales are making it on sites like slickdeals.

[#2]

The problem with Best Buy is that they are trying to compete with Walmart and Amazon on prices. They need to focus on quality and customer service do not go to Best Buy to get cheap products, I and most people go there to get the quality products. I want the workers to help me when I have questions. Doing those things will make them stand apart. Having no workers, not training their workers and pushing cheap stuff is trying to out Walmart Walmart. It is dumb and I have been saying it for years. Please take the company in a direction that focuses on your strengths, not other company's strengths.

[#3]

I ment to people do not go to best buy to get cheap products.

[#4]

It may be time to change your business model. You may need to go away from being a brick and mortar, to a delivery slash pick up. You would lower employees, but you would have more effieceny with delivery and may be able to sale a more wider range of products. Losing your store fronts and making them pick up zones and storage facilites, can maximize your space and capability to hold more product. You will offer something the big stores such as Walmart and Kmart will not be able to offer, which is delivery and in home advise to customers about their purchases. You would also be able to keep you same model of being informative through instant messaging over the web or by the employees at delivery and pick up. You should also have a couple of computers at the pick up location incase a person does wish to buy something on a wheem, multiple computers to service mulitiple customers, and they would be able to pick up what is there, because it would only display what is in stock (but also what will be coming soon).

[#5]

customer service and a good return policy will get people in the store

[#6]

So follow Circuit City?

[#7]

You are trying to do too much. You can't hire better trained people and then also mark all products down to a minimum profit. You can get one or the other. I disagree on the deals that make slickdeals. If you spend anytime on slickdeals it is full of people that will do anything to rip off a company for as much as possible. The high rated deals on SDs are usually loopholes or glitches in the system that they exploit massively. You seem to be asking for the world and expect BBY can sustain that.

[#8]

Thanks for trying to help us better our business model, and I agree from a personal level if my local Best Buy was no longer in business I would end up missing it. Anyone else have thoughts on this idea?

[#9]

I'm not saying hire more people, I actually think it may be less people, but hire a higher quality of personel or train current personel. Slickdeals is just an example of getting out word of mouth. Right now best buy is basically getting by on email an print, that's doesn't cut it. As for as the business model you can't be in the center and expect to gain the most customers, you need to be either high end or low price, can't be in the middle. If you want to match your largest competitors then you have lower the prices. Maybe they should look into smaller locations. Best buy mobile, magnolia home and theater, and best buy home applliance but I think that would be a sideward step . Right now the country is going through a huge montery debacle and were not worried about quality as much (the majority at least) were looking at price and using best buy for advice and then buying online. We're going to miss best buy when the economy bounces back and it's not their, to make sure that doesn't happen best buy needs to adapt

[#10]

Best Buy is in desperation mode right now and will make a stupid mistake when cutting costs. If you need to reduce the amount of stores, fine. But the stores need a major facelift. It's completely uninviting and cold. The inside needs to be completely reorganized. I'm picturing a mall layout inside the store. The flow would be circular with the most important features in the middle of the circle (service and checkouts). I would want to see sections segregated by store-like free floating walls. It would be a design like no other store you've seen. The home audio/video sections lack all functionality. Who wants to look at a long wall of tv's? Stupid! I would expand the car audio aspect. There are very few places that offer affordable sevices. Sure you can go to "Someguys Audio/Video/Wheels" but you mortgage part of your house getting anything done. They should also think about expanding home appliances a bit.

Besides layout, they really need the right employees. Customer service is the cheapest vehicle to increase sales. Hiring such a young workforce has hurt them. Do you really think a middle aged guy wants to talk to some 20 year that looks like he just fell out of bed? Now granted they do have some knowledgeable younger employees but for the most part their workforce lacks experience, knowledge, attitude and leadership. You could walk around a give all the signs of an eager buyer but most of those young kids are undisciplined and either don't notice or are busy in an important conversation about what Tracy said on Facebook. Maybe you should think about a commission structure to help boost sales. You hire someone for $10/hr and expect them to sell? What's the motivation?

Lastly, it's all about the culture. They have no culture at Best Buy. It lacks leadership which reflects in the lack of employee buy-in. As a manager in retail you realize that the majority of your employees will not be with you long term. Embrace that. Let your employees know this. There is always room for advancement but working in retail is also giving them great exposure to other employers. Sounds counter productive but it's not. Encourage an outgoing attitude, smiles, laughter and willingness to go above and beyond. That's what potential employers look for. It's a win-win. So you lose a few employees to possible better positions elsewhere. In the meantime you get an employee with buy-in and a great attitude.

Best Buy needs to make drastic improvements. They have nothing to lose because right now they are a sinking ship. Their reliance on CD's and Video was foolish and coming to an abrupt end. There is a need for their products. The internet does not offer the ability to physically use something and lacks a face-to-face question and answer platform. I would much rather see/feel/hear a product and pay a bit more to have it now rather than read reviews and do a virtual chat session with someone and wait for possibly damaged merchadise.

[#11]

Thanks for the feedback on this idea