Best Buy IdeaX

[#1]

With GCU's sub fee increasing so much & the continued processing errors with the 10% I'd like to see BB return to striving to provide the best they can offer. When the dedicated game reps were there with the trade in counters trades went smoother & faster plus you weren't in the same line as returns/exchanges. The cost issue can be negated by having the areas partly subsidized between advertisements & a "Powered by ___________" partnership. You're already providing some of the best trade in values out here but the entire process of getting thru the trades is less than adequate.

[#2]

I agree and also in this line it can take forever to get serviced. 

[#3]

Being that we removed these in the not so distant past, I really can't imagine us bringing them back anytime soon. With that said, I would like to hear if others would like to have us bring these counters back. Remember to vote for an idea if you like it.

[#4]

Worst move ever in removing the counters plus the trade in market has completely changed. Gamestop, Target & Walmart are currently accepting in-store trade ins depending on their values & the time it takes to complete a trade in with greatly affect who gets the goods. You currently have the values but Gamestop maintains the speed & push it takes to excel. The reps are the edge & you won`t get full benefit if they have to be called to CS every other minute from the game area.

Currently, the gamers club section is flooded with "I didn`t get my 2x RZ pts for a trade" & "I didn`t get my 10% trade in bonus" threads. Dedicated reps help end this trend & free up web resources for issues that are more serious. Alot of times the 10% is less than $5 but people are still posting about being shortchanged.

A new customer joins GCU in-store then wait in the CS line for 20 minutes behind people returning/exchanging or even trading in games. They finally get to do their trades which takes another 10-20 minutes to receive a $400 BB giftcard($200 base + 100% bonus). Then later they realize they lost out on an additional $20 in credit b/c the rep didn`t correctly add their 10%. If they`re still in the store they can hope to redo the trade for another 10-20 minute wait or have thew manager deduct $20 off whatever they`re purchasing. Not exactly the experience you wanna provide for a premium $120 paid program is it. I can only imagine what a customer thinks when another customer walks a rep thru the entire trade in process right before they are going to do a trade, customers have even asked me if I could "stick around" while their trade is completed during this process they realized they`d never received the 10% even after being a member 8+ months.

[#5]

Direct from walmart

"we’re actively taking aim at the $2 billion pre-owned video game opportunity", “When we disrupt markets and compete, our customer wins. They’ll save money on video games and have the flexibility to spend it however they want" & Walmart’s video game trade-in program is easy. Customers bring their working video games, in the original packaging, to the electronics department.

http://www.news.walmart.com/news-archive/2014/03/18/walmart-doubles-down-on-video-gaming

Direct from Gamestop

Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer. Though GameStop has shook off competitors like Best Buy and others before, Wal-Mart is no doubt a special circumstance that would call for an aggressive move like this.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/report-gamestop-offering-extra-in-store-credit-to-fight-off-wal-mar...

[#6]

The game counter was never fully realized in my area stores, mostly because the counter was not staffed by a dedicated employee during all store hours. About half of the time, I would have to find someone in another department to try to find someone who knew gaming over the radio. I don't mind waiting at customer service in general - the waits have been generally better on average.

The real problem is that the trade in software is not user friendly for an untrained employee. There should be no reason that someone should have to look up my GCU information when a My Best Buy card can be scanned at any time during a purchase transaction on the same computer without any additional keystrokes. It should scan in the same way a game is scanned for value, and there is an existing habit to scan it when someone holds one out.

Alternatively, the trade transaction should stop an employee with a prompt looking like the worst GeoCities site ever made that should say something to the effect of "You didn't apply a GCU bonus to this transaction, did you not succeed at upselling the customer on the program, or did you forget to enter it in the comically large neon green area before submitting?"

Right now GCU feels like a rebate program, not a loyalty program. Every benefit is on the customer to manage - usage limits, making sure they get the right amount for trades, etc. Rebates can be very lucrative for the consumer, but they are built around discouraging redemption. Loyalty programs work best when the company encourages you to use the benefits at every opportunity. Countless other retailers and restaurants ask me for my card in every transaction, and so should Best Buy.

[#7]

Kojubat,

COMPLETELY AGREED, shouldn`t have to post examples of how the trade in process should work to ensure all things go smoothly.

http://www.forums.bestbuy.com/t5/Best-Buy-IdeaX/Please-post-clear-examples-of-how-the-trade-in-proce...

GCU membership cards supplied in the welcome kits scanned at the time of trade or via phone # is all that should be needed. If a customers card is expired when scanned offers to renew should be automatically prompted along with the amount they`d lose w/GCU as temptation to renew.

http://www.forums.bestbuy.com/t5/Best-Buy-IdeaX/Gamers-Club-Elite-and-Elite-Plus-Membership-Cards/id...

[#8]

First things first they need to bring back the good trade values before they bring back the trade-in counters. It's been MONTHS since I did a trade-in at Best Buy. Why? Because the trade in values AND the amount of time it'd take to do a trade at customer service are laughable at this point to me.

About the only time I've done a trade-in in the last six months was probably when corporate forgot to take down the 100% banner the day after it ended at the end of a week. The values had risen back up to their pre bonus levels. I got almost full MSRP for a couple games that I think I had paid way less than that for.

I mean, I'm not saying the company should offer values that would have them losing money(ala WalMart and their $47 trade value on Ni No Kuni even before the in-store program went live :-P), but it's a case of either feast or famine with values in regards to BB.

If your game is more than 6 months old, you can expect to get what amounts to enough for a pack of gum and a Coca-Cola at the front registers for them. A little parity would definitely be nice is all I'm saying.

[#9]

I can only partly agree on the trade in values since they`re selling games at a 20% discount that will affect the trade in values but even still you can do really good on play n trades. My issues are they re-adjust their values based on supply/demand/rarity. And they`re not on top of having all the titles in the system at all or fast enough. A major title release on Tues but they have no listing for it until Fri/Sat when some people wanna trade in that week for the 50% or 100% bonus. The other issue is not having more diverse trade in promos beyond the 50%, 100% & trade 2. Obviously, if you`re handing a person a $200-$500 giftcard it makes sense to try & get another sale from that customer. But they don`t even piggyback the trade ins to other items in the store like tablets/phones/tvs...If they ran a promo whenever a new high demand device released like a Iphone/Ipad/Galaxy then they should offer a trade in deal that gives you a ____ bonus for trading in a certain amount then purchasing the device. You strengthen both the trade in program & sales on big ticket devices that have good add on attach rates. Coupon packs with select trades geared towards secondary sales would do them well too.

[#10]

You are going to find, and not in the far future, that most games will only work for one console or PC ever.

I have read articles about the distributors offering to let you unlock a game on a new device IF you pay them a fee like $10 or $15

Best Buy taking trades on used games is kind of a wash.  Thats what GameStop is for.

Taking trades on PS3 and 360 games is a losing propostion as they fade away.

[#11]

Isn`t that the losing bet MS attempted to make with XB1? The used game market strengthens the new game market when that goes away so will huge mega million 1-2 month sales totals. Right now I have younger cousins who get 2-3 new games per yr, Xmas & their b-day. All their other chances come from trades since it`s a hard sell to get $60 on a new game with a tank of gas $60. Nintendo prices hold so the trades surely help them too. Profits on used are greatly higher than new which is why GS is all for a person paying $54.99 used with all the profit to them vs $60 shared. BB would love to get 10%-30% off that used game market from GS but it won`t happen if it takes 2x-3x as long to trade in at BB while also paying $120 upfront. For $120 BB should be blowing GS away with everything except for total game volume which this idea directly affects.