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Best Buy, the last national electronics chain, is counting on these advisors to distinguish it from Amazon.com Inc., the company’s competitor, partner, and would-be vanquisher. With more than 1,000 big-box stores in North America and about 125,000 employees, Best Buy was supposed to have succumbed to the inevitable. “Everyone thought we were going to die,” says Hubert Joly, who was hired as chief executive officer in August 2012 after profits shrunk about 90 percent in one quarter and his predecessor resigned amid an investigation into his relationship with an employee.
Instead, Best Buy has become an improbable survivor led by an unlikely boss. Joly was raised and educated in France, trained at McKinsey & Co., and previously employed by hospitality company Carlson, based outside Minneapolis, and media conglomerate Vivendi SA, where he greenlighted a little game called World of Warcraft. He’s the first outside CEO in the chain’s 52-year history. He had no retail experience—Best Buy’s stock fell 10 percent the day he was named CEO—but Joly understands how to value, and capture, customers’ time. Comparable sales rose 5.6 percent last year and 9 percent during the Christmas season, the biggest holiday gain since 2003. The stock price has quadrupled. Even Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is impressed. “The last five years, since Hubert came to Best Buy, have been remarkable,” he said at an appearance in April.
Geek Squad to the rescue?
(Score: 5, Informative) by DannyB on Friday July 20 2018, @08:02PM (13 children)
I rarely go to Best Buy. Even when I do, it is usually tagging along with a friend, and I have no intention of buying anything.
I simply got tired of the fact that once in the store you are constantly attacked by clueless sales droids. It's not just "let me know if you need any help". But they INSIST on trying to help you. Hey, I'm just looking. I am already informed and have done, or will do my research. I don't make impulse buys on high dollar items unless it is an item that I am familiar with and recognize a good deal and that is exceedingly rare, but I mention it.
They're supposedly experts but have never even heard of Linux.
There is NOTHING at Best Buy that tempts me.
Amazon is great. Delivered right to my door. For a 60 inch TV I can go to Target and not be hounded by sales droids.
I remember one time there were some junior sales droids in training. I could tell by their leader talking to them. They each had to sell an item. This one girl was handed a camera. She eventually found me. My wife was looking for a camera, so I got it on the chance it fit the requirements. Basically the sales person wore me down. Even by the time I got to the car I realized this was a mistake. I returned it. But it was the final straw with Best Buy.
I've heard plenty of Geek Squad horror stories.
I remember the stories on the green site where Best Buy had free WiFi (back when nobody did). The purpose was so that when you surfed to bestbuy.com, they could redirect you to a "special" version of their online store guaranteed to have online prices that were higher than the in-store prices. But if you used your data plan instead, you discovered that the online store was actually cheaper. Now this cannot be explained away as any kind of accident. This is a corporate conspiracy with the stores to implement this outright fraud upon the public. (Like McDonalds fraudulently labeling their sauce as "hot" sauce.)
I remember stories, with photos, of two identical big screen TVs side by side to show why you should buy Best Buy's "Optimization" service to ensure best picture quality. One TV was simply tuned to the SD channel and the other to the HD channel for the same cable network.
There is more. But in the end, I simply DON'T TRUST Best Buy. Like Microsoft, they're not someone I want to do business with.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @08:26PM (2 children)
Went looking for the +1 Couldn't Agree More mod, but it's not there...
Only difference in our stories is that I haven't given in (yet) to the high pressure sales pitch.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @11:25PM (1 child)
That's because you have to be logged in to be able to moderate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @04:40AM
I am logged in you insensitive clod. I just chose to post as AC that time (and this time too).
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @08:27PM (4 children)
Sounds like you're lacking in assertiveness.
All that is required to rid yourself of a sales person who is pestering you is to tell them in no uncertain terms :
"I am just browsing and I prefer to be left alone, but if I do need help I will come find you".
This works whether it is Best Buy or the world's most pushy car dealership. I speak from over 40 years of experience dealing with
pushy sales people. Don't even try to tell me that "your situation was different" -- the difference was that you are WEAK.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday July 20 2018, @08:35PM (2 children)
I prefer " "I am just browsing and I prefer to be left alone, but if you continue to try to sell to me, i will leave and not come back."
THAT makes them walk away.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @08:49PM (1 child)
"I prefer " "I am just browsing and I prefer to be left alone, but if you continue to try to sell to me, i will leave and not come back."
-
-
In my experience, using thinly veiled threats ( as you suggest ) is rarely called for.
It is best to save threatening statements for when every other option has failed,
which in practice is vanishingly rare.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday July 21 2018, @12:59AM
I had a car salesman follow me around even after telling him "I'm just looking" 4 bloody times.
Following up with "I am just browsing and I prefer to be left alone, but if you continue to try to sell to me, i will leave and not come back." made him back off and leave me alone.
It is not a thinly veiled threat: it was something i was quite willing to do! I wasn't threatening him bodily harm in any way. I was just not willing to put up with him saying "Oh, you're just looking... what are you looking for?"
"Are you looking for a car? A truck?"
"Are you looking for a used vehicle?"
Why should i have to put up with that? I'M JUST LOOKING, THANKS, should be enough to make him back off. Any more than that and fuck it, YOU ARE BOTHERING ME!
You're willing to put up with him following you around, i'm not.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday July 23 2018, @01:42PM
> Sounds like you're lacking in assertiveness.
Past tense.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @08:57PM
Go in surly and antisocial like you probably are. Ignore them or say "No thanks" when questioned. You will do just fine. It's a big store, not a RadioShack.
You could also just order from Best Buy online. That's where you're going to learn about any real deals anyway, online.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Friday July 20 2018, @10:55PM (2 children)
I haven't been in a Best Buy Store for many years but their online stuff is OK, sometimes the best option, sometimes not. It's a better, less script plagued site than NewEgg is these days. I never even consider them as an option for years until someone gave me a gift card.
The reason I stopped going in the stores was the sheer pointlessness of it. Awful selection and high price. For instance, need a cat4 cable? They would maybe have two or three short, way overpriced cables hanging on hooks with empty space to either side where they could have stocked plenty of better options. Ask a salesman for help finding something for your older hardware? You got a sneering reply they did not carry it and a suggestion to buy one of their overpriced newer PC's. I could do a lot better elsewhere from the comfort of my home, even back when I was on a 56k modem connection.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday July 21 2018, @01:55PM (1 child)
We tried to buy a 42" TV from Best Buy in 2008... walked into the store eyes wide open, knowing that this was going to cost an extra $100 just for the retail experience as opposed to whatever mail order. I was even ready to pay a $30 premium on a $5 cable just so we could take it home and hook it up right then. And they blew it, so very hard that I just couldn't. The only things they had in stock were last year's models, they could order a set with the specs I wanted but it would take longer to arrive and of course cost more than a direct mail order, and I'd get the privilege of driving back to the store to pick it up at this premium in dollars and time, unless I wanted to pay even more dollars and time for direct home delivery. And, even then, the available selection for their special orders was more limited than online.
I guess I really killed the experience by researching online, but 10 years later we still have that TV, and the specs were changing so rapidly back then it really did make a difference (720 vs 1080, 30Hz vs 60 vs 120, various other things that make a real difference.)
Best Buy - where ignorance is bliss.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @06:40PM
And ten years later your story seems only relevant to the Best Buy 2012.
It doesn't help us understand why Best Buy is still alive in 2018.
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Sunday July 22 2018, @07:05PM
One advantage to physical stores is dealing with warranty claims. Geek Squad accidental damage extended warranties tend to cost more than equivalent protection from SquareTrade or the original product manufacturer. But the advantage is faster service. When my wife's tablet broke under warranty two years ago Best Buy replaced it in fifteen minutes. When my Android phone with an accidental damage warranty purchased from the original vendor broke last week, I had to mail it out to go through their review and replacement process. So I have to use a backup phone for a week or two while I wait.