You should provide an option to either permanently or by purchase opt out of getting any kind of "thank you" correspondence.  The reason I'm suggesting this is because on two recent occasions, I or my wife purchased a gift and the thank you note ruined the surprise.  The first time was when I got a new cell phone for my wife's birthday.  The plan was to give her the new phone, and swap the SIM cards, but you sent her a text message before she got the gift.  The second time, my wife bought a gift for me, and I received the email thanking me for the purchase before my birthday.

I understand that you want to show your appreciation to your customers, but I'm sure I'm not the only one to experience this unintended consequence.  Please seriously consider changing your policy, otherwise I'll have to consider making gift purchases elsewhere.

Thanks!

1) New strategies for home appliances
- people rarely buy big white appliances online
- strike exclusive distribution deal with low-cost, decent-quality brand (e.g. Haier)
- establish Geek Squad for home appliances
- strike a deal with manufacturers to assume manufacturing warranty with in-house Geeksquad for discounted prices
- sell option to replace the same appliance in the future at discounted prices (e.g. for an appliance with 10-year expected life offer 30% off if replaced after 3 years or 50% after 5 years - option expires after 6 years)
- offer long-term leasing (e.g. recurring $400 for every 5 years for a worry-free lease of washer and dryer)

2) Send solicited or insolicited bid to distribute all possible home appliances in new property developments, especially multi-unit apartment buildings.
- each branch has a person/team to monitor and pursue opportunites

3) Capitalize frugal innovations
- send a team to Dragon Mall (see the Economist this week) to identify 10-15 less-than $30 items for a special corner in store
- not exclusively electronics, think about emulating Sharper Image store
- could change seasonally so that people have a reason to stop by stores

4) Sell refurbished electronics with limited warranty

Disclaimer: Use any of these ideas at your own risk.

So as a Best Buy Employee from the moment I have joined, I never stop finding myself creating things that not just have benefited my district but my store. 

With the great success of all my ideas, I've had a primary focus of the customer end of our business. Its what drives me. However this idea, isn't something I can start at my store level like everything else. It pretty much has to come from above. 

My Idea is the emails to customer about weekly deals. The concept is that we tailor our emails to the customer and provide services based off that purchase.

Similar to Apple's and Amazon's Model, we have what they don't. Solutions. For Ex. 

I purchase Macbook Pro at Apple Store. I am sent an email specifically tailored to my purchase with info and start guides about it. 

If we followed that model we could better achieve customer satisfaction not just online but instore with these emails providing information and what other customers have bought with it and quick guides we have on our bestbuy.com site. This can go hand in hand with tablet video trainings we have when some one buys a tablet. (Makes sense doesn't?)

Following off that Amazon's great model is its special deals. However Best Buy won't be able to match some of those offers and lets face it. However If we tailored customer purchases with deals they could get for their product in an email. That, would be a great benefit for the customer.

I don't shop for TV's. So when I get a "Great Deal on TV's". Frankly, it doesn't tailor to my benefits. However sending me emails about deals on External Hard Drives and Flash Drives. Well then as a customer I would know more deals for something I would want.

Problem with our current model is that its generic. That sucks. If I treat customers I interact with a unique tailoring to what they need then why not their emails? 

Bottom line, my proposal is we change our email delivery system not by generic email's but by purchases and services based off the products. Even more importantly services. 

Tech Support for a purchase of 2 PC's and a tablet and it isn't on the reciept? Either it wasn't what a customer wants or they didn't understand its great benefits, regardless giving them the option to see their choices is us as Best Buy saying " We care, so heres how we can show you"

Thanks. 

RJ

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.

I'm a longtime Best Buy customer but honestly I usually only buy things after I've done my research elsewhere and know the specific item I'm looking for when I visit the store or BestBuy.com.  Your website is horrible to navigate and lacks sufficient technical detail and filtering ability.  For instance, I'm currently shopping for a laptop to support my photo/video hobbies but I can't filter my search in any logical manner for the features I'm looking for (screen resolution, for instance).  Instead I'm stuck paging thru 300+ laptops and opening each to find the specs, which many times are inadequate.  If you want to see an example of optimal website filtering/navigation (both mobile & regular internet) see bhphotovideo.com.  In my opinion, all internet shopping should have their level of technical detail & user-controlled filtering.  I really want to buy my new laptop at Best Buy but you make it really hard to do that.

I recently bought a product from your website and chose in store pickup as my delivery option.  According to the email telling me my purchase was ready for pickup I need to bring with me, "The order number listed above - or a copy of this e-mail".  In order to format a print out the email correctly I had to highlight the correct portion and then print preview and select the highlighted portion only.  Even doing this I was not able to print out the entire email which I wanted to keep for my records.  Could you please add a button that would format the email for printing and make it easier to comply with your directions. 

I have been searching for the largest television possible that will fit in my entertainment center.  This means in this case that I need to look at the height and width of televisions to find what I am looking for.

My suggestion is to allow searches on the physical dimensions of a product.  Searching on a range of screen sizes is the closest option available today, but this is not sufficient to solve this type of problem.  The ideal capability would allow the user to specify a maximum dimension or dimensions, and then sort the results based on the selected dimension.

I am only writing this because I care about stores.

It is a real plus for shoppers to window shop at your expense. I do not know how you can keep your doors open.

Why not charge a membership fee to "window shop" and refund it as things are purchased?

Maybe charge a $20 annual fee to come in-- like REI., and give people twice the fee back when they buy. There are lots of schemes for this. I went to REI and go a $10 discount, and had not bought for over a year. Will I be back there to buy? Yes.

Why not let customers shop online while IN the store, and give a 2% discount or something-- for the gasoline expense or whatever.

Why not provide some services at a reasonable expense, or live mini-classes on how to use APPS, or to be more efficient, or fixing wi-fii problems at home, or comparing cable TV providers- saving people time and money?

I do not go often to Best Buy because I feel treated like crap-- a second class citizen -- when waiting in the check-out line. Who wants to feel like a watched criminal? I guess I do not go shopping much anymore anyway because of this. (Now you have what you deserve, perhaps.)

I KEA sells FOOD. It is FUN to go there, usually.

I hope you survive, but as long as those creepy check-out lines are there, I probably will not be back.

Did any human read this? please reply.

Thanks

I work with several people who have various disabilities and need adapted equipment to be able to use technology.  Additionally, my wife has a disability and has trouble using a standard keyboard and mouse.  Right now, the only way to find adapted equipment is to go on line and search, or be in contact with an occupational therapist or disabilty services provider.  There are lots of people for whom a non-standard mouse or keyboard or some other minor adaptation would make their technology experience much easier or enjoyable, but who don't know where to go to find the right stuff.

I think that adaptable or ergonomic equipment needs to go mainstream instead of having to be a medical issue.  I think Best Buy could be a leader in supplying that market by having products in-store that people could get hands-on rather than having to look at pictures and descriptions on a browser.  I don't think it would take a lot of floor space to have an area for accessibility, and would certainly benefit a lot of people, who don't want to be branded disabled, but have a need for equipment that isn't the standard off-the-shelf stuff.

FourSquare is an online community which allows users to posts tips on individual store pages.  Differentiate the Best Buy brand by giving weekly tips to the FourSquare community that proactively addresses questions about hot products, i. e,. announce new firmware updates for Blu-ray players.  Also, encourge Blueshirt and Geek Squad participation within the FourSquare community by asking them to post a weekly tips when they check-in.