{"id":240,"date":"2012-02-06T09:13:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-06T14:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom.chainstoreguide.com\/2012\/02\/best-buys-fright-update\/"},"modified":"2012-02-06T09:13:00","modified_gmt":"2012-02-06T14:13:00","slug":"best-buys-fright-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/2012\/02\/best-buys-fright-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Buy\u2019s Fright Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last month I wrote a piece<\/a> reviewing what many viewed as Best Buy\u2019s fright before Christmas.\u00a0 I explored Best Buy\u2019s announcement, days before Christmas, that overwhelming demand for some products from Bestbuy.com had led to a problem fulfilling several online orders made in November and December, beginning with orders placed as far back as the day after Thanksgiving.\u00a0 I then proceeded to compare this notice with CompUSA\u2019s email two days prior to Christmas day, guaranteeing next day delivery.\u00a0 Essentially, while Best Buy couldn\u2019t make good on highly advertised offers made for Black Friday, retailing\u2019s hottest day of the year, CompUSA essentially provided less than a twenty-four hour turnaround at pretty much the last minute for shoppers to meet the ultimate holiday deadline.<\/p>\n

Shortly after New Years Day, January 2 to be precise, a piece appeared in Forbes titled, \u201cWhy Best Buy Is Going Out of Business\u2026. Gradually\u201d. \u00a0As can be seen by the title, no thoughts were minced. It was a sharp critique of Best Buy\u2019s business practices.\u00a0 To be fair, the writer made it clear that gradually could mean several years, but was likely just a matter of time.<\/p>\n

The indictment surely hit home both with industry experts as well as Best Buy brass.\u00a0 Virtually that same day, Best Buy corporate issued an explanatory statement on the mess that had been created by its admission of its holiday fulfillment failure.\u00a0 At the same time the critical article pretty much went viral.\u00a0 The piece has received well over two million page views since posting. \u00a0The post has been tweeted more than 16,000 times. If this wasn\u2019t enough proof that the writer hit a nerve, what happened next was.<\/p>\n

Just days after the article\u2019s publication, <\/strong>Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn posted a detailed response, directly addressing the critique.\u00a0 Dunn then granted an interview during which he predictably painted a rosier picture of his company than had recently appeared in the press after acknowledging specific challenges the company faces.<\/p>\n

While many retail observers and customers had been critical of Best Buy\u2019s bumbling some of its most important holiday orders of the year, equal and at times even sharper criticism was heaped on the company for an extremely late notification to affected customers.\u00a0 Notifying these customers just days before the holiday gave those poor souls little time to remedy the situation in order to provide loved ones with a proper alternative.<\/p>\n

In recent years I have written several Insights highlighting Best Buy\u2019s retail operations.\u00a0 Sadly, lately there were too few highlights and more observations on the company\u2019s operational lowlights.\u00a0 Last year this space featured a piece revealing how many parallels Best Buy shared with Blockbuster.\u00a0 This was posted just prior to Blockbuster\u2019s acquisition by Dish Network early last year and noted that, \u2018Both now face challenging futures, though Blockbuster\u2019s demise currently seems a lot closer than does Best Buy\u2019s murky horizon<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n

Shortly after Best Buy\u2019s corporate responses to their frightmare, an online retail forum shared observations by member retail professionals. \u00a0More than taking in their opinions on Best Buy\u2019s actions and responses, I was struck by the number of heartfelt stories posted by these experts reflecting their own episodes of horror, experienced while dealing with Best Buy as consumers.\u00a0 This brought to mind a recent Christmas time episode at a local Best Buy that made me wonder how much the company had learned about dealing with customers, even after rather sharp corrections in policies such as eliminating restocking fees and advertising liberal return edicts on televisions just prior to the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

I happened to be shopping in a Target a few nights before Christmas and noticed that a recently introduced camera which I had coveted was selling at its lowest price yet.\u00a0 To make a purchase even more tempting, Target was offering a $50 dollar gift card with the purchase.\u00a0 One drawback that had prevented me from purchasing this camera earlier was the lack of availability of backup batteries as this model apparently had introduced a brand new proprietary battery.<\/p>\n

The next day I was passing a Best Buy and decided to explore their price matching policy.\u00a0 After several uncomfortable financial quarters, Best Buy has begun to reverse some not so customer-centric policies including extending price matching. <\/strong><\/p>\n

I first asked an associate, who was eagerly involved in gulping a diet soda, about the availability of backup batteries and was sternly told that the camera uses AAs.\u00a0 When I expressed my doubts she restated her position.\u00a0 Finally she checked the box, avoided eye contact and mumbled that she would see if the store had any of these proprietary batteries or a substitute.\u00a0 It did not.<\/p>\n

I then asked about the price match.\u00a0 As Best Buy had the same sale price as Target the question was would they match the gift card offer.\u00a0 The associate called her supervisor to determine her course of action and then immediately checked Target\u2019s website and confirmed the price but noted that there was no mention of a gift card.\u00a0 Thus I was informed that it was up to me to provide written proof of the gift card offer before Best Buy would issue a gift card of its own.<\/p>\n

For another camera, which Target also offered for the same price as Best Buy, Target\u2019s website offered an even greater gift card deal.\u00a0 It turns out that for Best Buy to match this, the associate must call the nearest Target to be sure the camera was in stock.\u00a0 Though I assured her that another Target nearer my home had had several in stock the night before, I was informed that only the local Target mattered.<\/p>\n

An identical situation prevented Best Buy from selling me a camera during the latter months of the existence ofCircuitCity.\u00a0CircuitCity\u2019s price was well below that of Best Buy.\u00a0 As the nearby (about a seven minute drive away)CircuitCitywas out of stock on this model, Best Buy refused the match.\u00a0 TheCircuitCitylocation near a friend\u2019s house did have stock and got the sale.\u00a0 This was less than a twenty minute drive from the Best Buy location.<\/p>\n

My impression after this latest experience in price matching futility was strongest in terms of the hubris shown by Best Buy\u2019s policies through their employees.\u00a0 Restricting customers to a match from only one nearby store and to require proof of availability when there are so many competing venues within a modest commute shows that Best Buy is still corporate-centric rather than customer-centric.\u00a0 After all a Target gift card is far more versatile than one from Best Buy. \u00a0It can purchase anything from groceries to HBC to consumer electronics to apparel, generally at very attractive price points.\u00a0 Best Buy on the other hand is noted for high markups on most accessories which is about all this gift card would cover.<\/p>\n

If all this is not enough for an investor to wonder about the retailer, as I was leaving the store I heard a rendition of a favorite song, Ave Maria.\u00a0 As I approached the speaker system I was stunned by the lack of audio clarity and what seemed like ambient noise.\u00a0 Clearly there was a problem with the setup of the speakers or perhaps with the speakers themselves.\u00a0 What a way to promote hi-tech equipment.<\/p>\n

Lastly there is the issue of the stores themselves.\u00a0 Several years ago I visited a consumer electronics retailer during what turned out to be its last year of its existence.\u00a0 I was stunned that this super-sized store, offering the latest in flat screen TVs and digital cameras, appeared almost as a throwback to retailing of decades past.\u00a0 Best Buy stores which I have visited across several states in recent years do not revert as far back in time but fail to make a statement to nearly keep up with the high-tech products they continue to bring in.\u00a0 Several professional colleagues and friends soundly concur. \u00a0This is at best a questionable way to promote a retail experience in this increasingly competitive consumer electronics world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last month I wrote a piece reviewing what many viewed as Best Buy\u2019s fright before Christmas.\u00a0 I explored Best Buy\u2019s announcement, days before Christmas, that overwhelming demand for some products from Bestbuy.com had led to a problem fulfilling several online orders made in November and December, beginning with orders placed as far back as the… Continue reading Best Buy\u2019s Fright Update<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"post-template-no-sidebar.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-retail-technology","tag-insight","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}