Best Buy IdeaX

[#1]

I went to Best Buy to get a cover for my new kindle. Two Best Buy clerks told me that the store did not sell the covers but that Best Buy online did have what I want. In my opinion the clerks failed to capture a sale. As a leading provider of technology products, it seems to me Best Buy would have online kiosks, and that the sales people should be taking customers to that service, not sending them home to buy from whomever they favor. For instance, I brought my cover from Amazon, along with some other things I was looking for. Before going online, however, I dropped by Staples, where I got exactly the same result: Order it online. This makes no sense to the mind of a merchant.

[#2]

I have had a number of clerks on the floor offer to place an order for me online directly in the store.  I once even ordered a non stocking laptop from a clerk in the store.

However, I think it would be a good call to have a kiosk right there in the store where you can browse the catalog and place an order.  I think it would require that you have to have a My Best Buy account prior to using it.   There are people that do not have computers or internet connections at home and this would help them out. 

[#3]

Yes, it would help the customers as well as making more sales, like the one they lost on my cover, and the laptop before that. They need more hi-tech for their hi-tech sales.

[#4]

@DwightS and @bobberuchi in my market they have "connected" stores where Geek Squad has a whole bunch of computer stations setup to be either a kiosk connected to BestBuy.com or there's cabling there for a customer to hookup their own computer (including a switch so that the customer can just bring their tower and use the monitor, keyboard and mouse that's already there).  Maybe the better solution is to rebrand this to something else that lets customers know they can shop online in the store here as well? 

[#5]

I know in the not so distant past we had kiosks where a customer could access BestBuy.com and order anything we sell there. I'm not sure why they went away. Would anyone else like us to bring back these kiosks? Make sure to vote for an idea if you like it.

[#6]

The idea is not exactly a kiosk where a customer orders something on BB.com. BB employees need to employ technological solutions to get the customer what they want. Instead they are telling customers to go home, go online, and order whatever they want from Amazon. Does that make good business sense to someone here?