By submitting an idea to IdeaX, you agree to our Terms & Conditions.    
New Idea
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.
Status: Acknowledged
I did hear back on this and was informed at this time we would not be moving forward on this idea.

This is probably a long shot, but here goes:

 

Best Buy is the leader in consumer electronics but the technologies that Best Buy utilizes in its stores suggest anything but. If Best Buy wants to be the leader in technology and showcasing it to customers you need to commit to it fully by investing in supporting infrastructure:

 

(1)  Better WiFi bandwidth and infrastructure in-stores. My closest Best Buy is located in a rock quarry. Simply put, cell phone signals don't exist. When employees activate phones, they have to go outside and up the side walk to get reception so you rely heavily on WiFi, which is atrociously slow in this store. Whether it be mobility, home automation, home theater, etc. Everything that is big in technology right now requires significant WiFi to work and as such, Best Buy should provide significant WiFi bandwidth to give its' employees the capabilities to demo these solutions to customers, effectively. 

 

(2) Update/refresh kiosks and registers. It still amazes me to see these clunky registers all over Best Buy (my local Best Buy store still has beige registers to give you an idea) - meanwhile, I go to the local mall and every other store has eliminated the register space in favor of tablet or phone-based point of sale solutions.  I would love to see Best Buy consider giving each department several tablet-based point of sale units and maybe keep registers up front only for cash-based transactions. This would create a better shopping experience for customers and employees alike and force Best Buy to update their antiquated POS software - if you've ever been in a Best Buy store when a register goes down, I need to say no more, but it takes an embarrassingly long amount of time for the systems to restore and they do go down quite a bit. Yes, this would be a sizable investment, but if help desk tickets went down as low as even 25%, there's a significant ROI on this too. 

 

 

Status: We Did It!

We should already be providing our stores the fastest possible WiFi available in their area, and the real problem is most likely the sheer number devices connected to each store's WiFi.

 

We did recently upgrade our Point of Sale Systems.

At least print about them on the reciepts! Store #364 don't have a clue about them and I'm sure the other stores follow suit. I thought companies were supposed to know all about the inner workings of their companies but some do not?

 

I hope I'm making sense, perhaps integrate the forums experience into part of their training and make them aware that these forums exist and what their purpose is. 

Status: We Did It!
Hi hockeycanuckjc, Since launching Best Buy Unboxed in 2008, I have worked to champion the Community among business teams, our retail locations and customers. The Community annually assists millions of customers and has had over half a billion messages read on it. Best Buy posts information on the Community about our latest products and answers customer questions; superusers like you help drive a lively and robust conversation. To help raise awareness of Best Buy Unboxed, I attended an annual company event and spoke with hundreds of BlueShirts and Geek Squad Agents about the Community and how they could “Be a Link” in the online customer experience by joining the online discussion. Our internal communication team also has published several Employee News articles, and last month in our internal magazine, we had an article about how employees can be more involved in the Community. In June, during trainings that occurred at all our stores, information about Best Buy Unboxed and our other social media channels was highlighted to all BlueShirts and Geek Squad Agents. My team and I will continue to work with internal partners to message the importance of Best Buy Unboxed to our business, employees and customers. Thank you, hockeycanuckjc, for all the work you have done in the Community over the years. You have had over 4,000+ posts, read over 68,000 messages and been 100% awesome. Gina

I'm sick and tired of hearing about how showrooming is hurting Best Buy.  If you are going to try and compete on price alone Best Buy has already lost.  You need to add value, why should consumers come into Best Buy?  The only current reason is so they can measure the devices.

 

A run down of a couple ideas I've seen here or think Best Buy is doing backwards.

- Free Delievery and Installation ( I'd gladdly pay more for a device for a nice helpful person to deliver and setup my latest toy). I can't belive Best Buy charges for TV installation and setup.  That's one thing no online store can offer or has the capability to offer.  Best buy should be snatching up business by giving customers a better at home expierence.

- Offer regular classes, like REI and Home Depot.  It gets people in the stores and if you don't scare them off people will buy.  Teach classes on networking, on tablets, on operating systems.  I can't tell you how many people I know that don't know the full capabilites of there electronics.

- Help people find what they want, not what makes Best Buy a couple extra dollars.  The single goal of the boys in blue should be to help the customer find the best fit for them.  A happy customer will return.  

-Don't push product replacement plans. ( I remember the first computer my father purchased15 years ago from Best Buy.  They wouldn't let my father leave the store without a PRP before talking to the store manager.  He had to tell 3 people he didn't want a PRP.  That's no way to treat a customer.  If he didn't want it he didn't want it.  

 

I want to tell you a story that should be your model.  I recently purchased new ski setup.  I went into a local store during a big sale and was planning to show room cause I can find them cheaper on the internet.  Guess what that didn't happen.  Instead the prices were competitive (skis - cheaper, bindings - slightly more, boots - more).  I was treated with respect, the salesmen explained everything I needed to know about skis, boots and binding.  He didn't push me.  They mounted the bindings for free because I purchased them there.  They molded my boots to my feet for free because I purchased them there.  Overall great expierence and what they don't know yet is I'm planning to buy backcountry skis in the next year.  Guess where I'm going?  That's at minimum 2200 dollar purchase and that started because how they treated me on a 600 dollar purchase.  I could probably knock a couple hundred off if I truely bargin shopping, but why would I because I now trust they will do their best to get me in the best setup. 

 

Good luck, Best Buy needs to make some large changes if they want to survive.

Status: Acknowledged
Thanks for the input on this idea.

Here's a suggestion, Best Buy: print the last day of a customer's return period according to the day they purchase on the receipt. For example, I make a purchase today, the 10th, and the receipt would say I have through April 25th to make a return or exchange. It's made clear to the customer how long they have and gives workers at the store a direct place to point out the time frame of it when someone comes in outside the return period begging to have the rules bent for them. Benefits for both sides for not much effort.

Status: Tell Us More

I like the idea, but I do see one problem that will come up. The return or exchange period starts the date a customer took possession of their purchase. In the vast majority of cases this is the same day they paid for their items.

 

In some cases the dates are not the same. When a customer is purchasing something large (i.e. Large TV, Appliances, etc...) they have the option to have these delivered, and their return or exchange date would be based off the date we delivered their purchase. In addition our stores can also order products for customers, and in these cases the date of purchase would not be the same as the date they took possession of their purchase. Does anyone have any addition insights into this idea? Remember to vote for an idea if you like it.

Waiting areas

Status: Tell Us More
by on ‎12-08-2014 02:45 PM
Put seated waiting areas for customers to wait to be helped or for lengthy assistance requests.
Status: Tell Us More

Having wished this myself in the past I can truly say I like this idea. Space in any retail store is usually at a premium, and rarely goes to waiting areas when product could be displayed in that space. Because of this it's unlikely this idea would be put in place in every Best Buy store. I guess it's possible that stores with more square footage might be able to create waiting areas. Who else would like to see this idea put into place? Make sure you vote for an idea if you like it.

Gift Bags

Status: Tell Us More
by on ‎12-19-2013 09:43 PM

I was at the store on Atlantic Blvd in Jacksonville, FL looking for a gift bag for my purchase, but I did not find one, so I just gave the gift in the blue plastic bag it was placed in by the cashier. I asked the store workers about gift bags and one searched for me, but determined that there weren't any gift bags sold by Best Buy, but said that a gift bag was a great idea. I think that Best Buy should partner with a greeting card company, or allow a vendor to set up shot in their stores so gift giving can become more touching with gift cards and gift bags. 

Status: Tell Us More
As a last minute shopper myself I can of course see the value in this. I would love to see if other customers would like to see this. Remember to vote for an idea if you like it.

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.

Status: Acknowledged
Thanks for all the input on this idea.

Currently the Mac Pro is only available online.  I could understand, when it first came out, making it online only, as you could not get your hands on them because they were back ordered by several months; However, with improved availability, I would love to see Best Buy expand it's in-store assortment to include the Mac Pro.  I find it weird that Best Buy would carry the $2500 MacBook Pro with Retina but all of sudden the Mac Pro is not worth carrying even though it's the most powerful and customizable Mac Apple's built-to-date.  

 

I would love to see Best Buy pilot selling the base model Mac Pro in select stores - maybe start with the top 50 or 100 Mac-selling stores and see how it does and expand from there?  

 

Entry-Level Mac Pro | Model: ME253LL/A | SKU: 2680016

3.7 GHz Intel Xeon E5 Quad-Core; 12GB of 1866 MHz DDR3 ECC RAM; 256GB PCIe-based Flash Storage; Dual AMD FirePro D300 GPUs (2 x 2GB); Six Thunderbolt 2 Ports; Four USB 3.0 Ports; One HDMI 1.4 Port Supports up to Three 4K Displays; 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi; Bluetooth 4.0; Unique Compact Cylinder Design; Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks

 

Status: Tell Us More
Would anyone else like to see us carry the Mac Pros in our stores? Make sure you vote for an idea if you like it.

Camera testing area

Status: Tell Us More
by on ‎01-12-2015 10:57 AM - last edited on ‎01-12-2015 11:22 AM by Senior Social Media Specialist Senior Social Media Specialist

This weekend my wife and I visited your store in Cherry Hill NJ. We are shopping for a new point and shoot camera. We looked at your display of camera and played around with a few of them. I asked the assistant Josh (who was wonderful and very knowledgable) what his opinion was and what help can he provide me and my wife about the Samsung camera. He explained the camera in great detail and made my wife and I comfortable about making the purchase. Yet here was the issue I ran into. After playing with the cameras zoom and other options we could not test to see how it would work in low lighting such as a bar or wedding that has very dark envirnments. So I asked Josh if he could let me take the camera into the Home Theatre area and take some photos to test its low light abilities. Unfortunately he was unable to remove the camera from its security locks and let me test the camera. My suggestion would be this.

 

Create an area just for testing specific products such as the cameras.It doesnt have to be a large area just big enough to test. Or at least let customers (supervised of coarse) take the camera into the Home Theatre area where they can test low lighting conditions. 

 

If your true intention is to make the sale of a camera I think letting the customer test the product like that will help them with making a better purchase. Let them test the camera in a similar environment they might find themselves in after purchasing. Just a thought you do as you please. Thank you.

 

Brett {removed per forum guidelines}

 

PS. In the end I purchased the camera thanks to Josh. Sorry didnt get his last name but he is a new hire as of 1.12.15

Status: Tell Us More

I'm not sure how we would guard against theft, but I do like the idea. Would anyone else like to see this as a reality? Make sure you vote for an idea if you like it.

Bestbuy™ for Xbox™ and Windows 8™

Status: Acknowledged
by on ‎12-04-2012 08:22 PM

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.

Status: Acknowledged
Thanks for the idea.

I own MN largest Solar installation company and would like a chance to show you the benefits of installing solar on stores in favorable utilities and states through-out the USA. I think some of those stores would also benefit from a partnership in selling solar to customers in the store. Its a market that woudl fit well with advanced electronics and home installations.

Status: Tell Us More

In order to establish a business relationship with Best Buy you will need to visit extendingthereach.com. I would be interesting hearing from customers if they would like to see this type of product in our stores or on BestBuy.com? Remember to vote for an idea if you like it.

Build Your Own Computer

Status: Tell Us More
by on ‎11-23-2013 11:13 AM

It would be really awesome if you had space in your stores (For example, you have all of that square footage from your music instrument experiment in the Fargo, ND store) that customers could use to build their own computers.  Customers could pay to use the space and get help from your Geeksquad team members.  I want nothing more than to build my own computer, but I don't even know where to start.  This would be a really great service to have access to.

Status: Tell Us More
As someone who has always wanted to build my own desktop computer I would love to see this. Given the value of space in our stores I would be surprised if we allotted floor space exclusively to build computers. I could see us offering classes on how to build your own computer, and we could temporarily transition floor space for these classes. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this idea? Remember to vote for an idea if you like it.

Fix MacBook/iMac Signs In-Store

Status: Tell Us More
by on ‎08-27-2014 12:47 PM

The current generation MacBooks have been out for almost a month and they still have no data on the tags.  The current iMac signs are also creating confusion because they are not coherent.  The entry level iMac fails to mention that it includes WiFi which is clearly called out on the other tags. Is there any way you guys could update this and make the signs coherent as it really does create a lot of confusion and frustration when there is missing, incomplete or incoherent data across tags.  Thanks.

Status: Tell Us More
Thanks for the suggestion. What are the sku's in question? Remember to vote for an idea if you like it.

Preorder And get it 3 hours early

Status: Tell Us More
by on ‎12-07-2013 02:53 PM

hello i like my best buy and been shopping there a lot i got my xbox one from best buy as well. i was on line for 8hr and yes i preoder. now my idea would be if you preoder ANYTHING game console movie phone whatever you should be able to get it at least 3 or 2 hrs early why not? now a days when you go to the movies they let you whatch it around 9pm thats before realease which is midnight! why not take advantage of this opportunity if you preoder at best buy get it early you will have so much sales for preorders. its almost 2014 and we as customers have a lot of options for buying items amazon walmart etc.also now you can buy digital games on lauch date over microsoft store xbox live or psn playstation  that means no line no waiting  no driving also you dont get robbed besides you got to preoder at best buy i have to wait come in pay taxes do another line  get my game and wait to get out by midnight get to the car and get home and then... wait for the game to install! thats a lot of waiting please make this a reality please

Status: Tell Us More
I can't imagine anyone that pre-orders with us not liking this idea. I should point out that often times when we can provide a customer what they have pre-ordered with us is dictated to us by the vendor, and is not actually up to us. Any other thoughts on this idea? Remember to vote for an idea if you like it.

Remove Samsung Section

Status: Acknowledged
by on ‎11-25-2013 01:39 PM

As a long time consumer at BestBuy I have seen the transition from many departments where there could be plenty of items to a now crowded area for computers/etc and a huge select space jus for "samsung" products. I mean..really? I'm surprised Apple doesn't have a larger area if you are going to do this! 

 

At first even I thought the idea would be worth going into. However, now I see that it really and truly isn't work the space used. I do have to start questioning Best Buy if the profits from the section is that high really? Cause at least out where I lve you rarely see people go into the section. 

 

So my suggestion is to just remolve the entire department and redistribute the departments respectively. Go back to the old system! 

Status: Acknowledged
Given we just established this partnership with Samsung, I can't imagine us removing this area anytime soon. Thanks for your thoughts on this!

Boost In-Store WiFi Speeds

Status: Tell Us More
by on ‎11-18-2013 05:15 PM

Recently while in-store I had a chance to test out the "improved" (supposedly the connected stores received a WiFi speed boost) WiFi connection and it was absolutely terrible.  It ended with me ultimate switching my phone to LTE and just using that.  I can't imagine why in the world Best Buy would advertise free WiFi knowing that if the initial speed is that slow it only gets worse as more and more people connect their devices onto it and browse the web as they walk around the store.  It just seems counter-productive.

 

Status: Tell Us More
Thanks for the suggestion. Would anyone else like us to improve the speed of the Wi-Fi we provide in our stores? Remember to vote for an idea if you like it.

Virtual Book & Music stores

Status: Tell Us More
by on ‎05-12-2013 11:25 AM

An idea to save space in stores and create a better buying environment while adding more product choices. What about having book, music and video kiosks to browse, sample and buy/download in-store? Dedicate an area in store buy creating a cafe-like area where people could browse digital media via kiosks/tables. People could dock their devices and use high-speed connections they may not have at home to download to phones and/or tablets. Have a deal with a service like iTunes/Amazon/Spotify/Google to sample content and buy using their store accounts.

Status: Tell Us More
Nice idea! I think a version of this has been posted in the past, but I really do see how this could work out for us. I could envision a problem with long lines forming at these kiosks. Anyone else have any feedback on this idea? Remember to vote for an idea if you like it.

There is no way to compare ear bud sound quality side by side without buying them first.  The reviews are not all that helpful, sound quality can be more of a personal preference.  Also, I think customers would spend more on ear buds if they knew the sound was significantly better.  There is nothing worse than spending $100 on a ear buds to find out that they sound terrible.  I'm not sure how you could set up a demo area like the over/on the ear demo space, but if you could, it'd be a huge competitive advantage.

Status: Acknowledged

Yes, due to health concerns we will never have earbuds that can be tried out prior to purchase.

Phone word support

Status: Tell Us More
by on ‎06-06-2014 04:44 PM

Some cell phones support phone words in the dialing environment (e.g. Blackberry qwerty phones).

Some support phone words in the texting environment (e.g. in Samsung Galaxy S phones, you can specify a phone word as a text message recipient, the phone accepts it and even writes its numerical equivalent under it).

Other phones simply give an error message if you write a phone word for a text message recipient (e.g. Sony Xperia).

I think it would be great if BestBuy specifies for each cell phone whether it supports phone words in the dialing environment and/or in the text messaging environment.

 

Status: Tell Us More
Would anyone else like to see this put into place? Remember to vote for an idea if you like it.
Submit an Idea
Have a cool idea? Tell us about it! Submit an Idea
Join the Community
Join the community and enjoy all the benefits! You may be our next expert!
Join Sign In
Announcements
We will soon be transitioning all support needs to BestBuy.com/Support.

Our Best Buy Community Forums will be closed for new posts beginning on March 20th.

For further help please visit Best Buy Support.
Idea Statuses
Labels