Posted on 01/02/2012 9:56:28 AM PST by Las Vegas Dave
Electronics retailer Best Buy is headed for the exits. I can’t say when exactly, but my guess is that it’s only a matter of time, maybe a few more years.
Consider a few key metrics. Despite the disappearance of competitors including Circuit City, the company is losing market share. Its last earnings announcement disappointed investors. In 2011, the company’s stock has lost 40% of its value. It’s forward P/E is a mere 6.23 (industry average is 10.20). Its market cap down to less than $9 billion. Its average analyst rating, according to The Street.com, is a B-.
Those are just some of the numbers, and they don’t look good. They bear out a prediction in March from the Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column, which forecast “the worst is yet to come” for Best Buy investors. With the flop of 3D televisions and the expansion of Apple’s own retail locations, there was no killer product on the horizon that would lift it from the doldrums. Though the company accounts for almost a third of all U.S. consumer electronics purchases, analysts noted, the company remains a ripe target for more nimble competitors.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Would that it were so! I'm straight, white, AND male, and I've never been so fortunate as to escape their predations.
I'm not a big fan of online shopping, and I rarely, if ever, go into a retail store without walking out with something that I purchased. It's not that I'm a compulsive shopper, either . . . it's simply that I don't bother going to a retail store unless I have something I need to buy.
My prediction is that some of these traditional retailers are going to get a chance at a "second life" when online sales are subject to taxation. It's only a matter of time before this happens, in my opinion.
I will miss Best Buy when they go under.
In the article, the kind of customer -insensitivity- you mention is presented as typical of the whole organization.
I only buy my computers there because I can take it in if needed or return if warranted. I’m afraid to order online - what if something happens?
Eventually you will no longer have that option when all the B&M locations are shuttered.
Retailers everywhere have the same problem, how to adjust to the pricing realities of internet shopping (and mobile phone apps that let you compare prices while standing in the aisle).
Lakeway TX.
May 2008, I decided to take a chance, ordered a Sony Bravia 52" from them. They had a great deal, it was $1999 ( super price back then..free shipping, and of course, no sales tax...couldn't find any retailer that could even come close to the price.
The set's delivered exactly when it's supposed to arrive, they even called a few hours early to confirm that I'd be home. The next day, the cable guy arrives...I'm not really god with this stuff, and my cable provider..BriteHouse, offers free installation and hook up of any new sets..and I give the guy a tip, and he hooks up the DVD for me as well, and goes through all the start up stuff.. Well, the TV doesn't work..no picture...I'm starting to worry..we call Amazon, the connect me to Sony technical support...happily for me the cable guy is still there to talk to Sony..as they trouble shoot...they figure out something is broken inside the set, and Sony tells me they can have a repair guy out to my place in two days to fix it. I call Amazon back..tell them I'm not happy, instantly, before I can say anythign more, the guy says they will ship me a new set..it will be there in three days, and they will pick up the damgaged one at the same time..I'm amazed..and very happy...and to this day I order everythign and anythign from Amazon without any worry whatsoever..
Anyone have any experience with HH Gregg..one just opened near me..and a half mle from from the Best Buy...they're supposed to be pretty good...their sales staff isn't commission based..
“My prediction is that some of these traditional retailers are going to get a chance at a “second life” when online sales are subject to taxation.”
Bingo. There are some things online shopping just cannot do either. Used bookstores, for example. Yes, of course you can get used books, but you cannot wander into some dark, odd shop with leaning towers of fusty books and a cat sleeping in the window, while you search for some serendipitous prize.
Online you can find exactly what you want and need. At Best Buy — not so much.
+++++++++++
And if you find it BB can’t compete on price.
Example: My dream 65” Panasonic VT30 plasma - $2820 shipped from Amazon with price matching and about $3240 from Best Buy carry home with sales tax (about $240). Best Internet price I have seen: $2640 including shipping.
I bought a computer there, along with extended warranty. When the computer broke, they didn’t know my name. That warranty was a third party vendor, I had to deal directly with them, yada yada yada.
A few years later, I went again - looking for a wireless router. They had two models, and I asked an employee what the difference was. Answer: “That one is 50 dollars, and the other one is 80 dollars”. Gee thanks.
Whatever happens, it can't possibly be worse than being at the mercy of BB's Dork Squad.
You are right. However, I have found Best Buy (and earlier Comp*USA) to be a God-send when I needed something right away. If I needed a monitor, hard drive, video card NOW, I could go to Best Buy and get them.
Their appliance department, however, is useless. The car add-on department, muscled out by fully-loaded new cars and boutique shops for the high-end buyer. DVDs and CDs? Obliterated by downloadables. Phones? Competitive, but no real advantage over the carriers’ stores, Radio Shack, and Apple Stores.
A big store like that can’t be carried by PC sales and service alone.
Seems to me that it is all about high volume at low margin and that is always a recipe for poor customer service. No matter what you buy there, they try to sell you an extended warranty on it and they get visibly perturbed when you turn it down. That must be where all their profit (and commission) comes from.
It's a sad statement about America. Consumers want to pay the lowest price possible so that forces companies to operate on such a slim margin that the only way for them to stay in business is to cut their operating expenses to the bone. That means low-paid, unmotivated employees and a near-total absence of customer service.
for me it is simple... they do not back their products... you could buy something, take it to the parking lot, try it and find it defective, walk back into the store ( the receipt will still be warm ) and they will not refund or exchange it... they will send it out for service, for just a nominal fee... screw them
“Televisions are about the only electronic item that I still need to see work in person.”
Same here, and I did purchase a Sony Bravia from Best Buy as well as an iTouch.
My Best Buy usually has lot of open parking spaces in front of it, but it managed to reserve a parking spot for “Fuel Efficient” green cars. Have never seen a reserved spot like that before. What’s up with that?
“...or the Gestapo/KGB tactics at Sam’s Club.”
What do you mean when you say that? What happened?
With the shape the economy is in, 3D televisions are not in the forefront of most peoples minds.
Best Buy goes Good Bye!
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