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Why Best Buy is Going out of Business...Gradually
forbes.com ^ | 1/02/2012 | Larry Downes

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 ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: bestbuy; electronics; hdtv; retail; trends
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To: Abathar

Wow, that was a good deal! I’ve wondered if some major retailers had price differences between online and brick/mortar outlets. I guess they are trying to compete for the folks who shop primarily online in addition to the in-store visitors. I guess I am now one of those “primarily online” people for non-grocery shopping, so a low price like that might bring me to Walmart.com whereas I don’t often visit their stores.


81 posted on 01/02/2012 11:27:20 AM PST by LostInBayport (When there are more people riding in the cart than there are pulling it, the cart stops moving...)
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To: ken5050

The one in NoVa near where I live doesn’t seem to have the stock. Also, it is never that busy when I get there.


82 posted on 01/02/2012 11:27:20 AM PST by Perdogg
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To: Las Vegas Dave

My sense in Best Buy is that a lot of what they sell is crap, and what isn’t is priced too high given the commoditization of electronics. I went there three times while Christmas shopping this past season, and I left the store empty-handed each time.

I also agree Sears is dead meat. Try to locate a product on their web site and then find it in store. Good luck. Also, my local Sears stores are very run down and staffed almost exclusively by idle black and hispanic females who know nothing about their products, are unconcerned by that fact, and are generally content to glare while chewing gum as a cow does her cud when inconvenienced with a question. Maybe it’s because I still bother speaking English....


83 posted on 01/02/2012 11:29:48 AM PST by Trod Upon (Obama: Making the Carter malaise look good. Misery Index in 3...2...1)
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To: Jack Hydrazine
"before it closes, be sure to prank them"

That's the funniest thing I've seen....LOL!

http://improveverywhere.com/2006/04/23/best-buy/

84 posted on 01/02/2012 11:30:57 AM PST by Minutemen ("It's a Religion of Peace")
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To: MarineBrat

Do you remember when the back half of every Radio Shack was a component wonderland?


85 posted on 01/02/2012 11:32:29 AM PST by Trod Upon (Obama: Making the Carter malaise look good. Misery Index in 3...2...1)
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To: Paleo Conservative; lacrew; Las Vegas Dave; Still Thinking; peggybac
My Computer died after only 22 months went back to best buy and they told me My name, my address, and that my computer was out of warranty. I have never had trouble with them.

I bought a TV from them in 1997, it was still working in November, but I replaced it with an 1080 HDTV.

86 posted on 01/02/2012 11:33:16 AM PST by Perdogg
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To: A'elian' nation
When the best price on an HDTV was still around $500, I bought two for $250 over the net ~ for the both ~ without trying them out ahead of time.

Lo and behold they both worked.

I tried to buy more of them.

87 posted on 01/02/2012 11:33:59 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: Las Vegas Dave; Swordmaker; martin_fierro

Thanks Las Vegas Dave.
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.
Among those more nimble competitors are the wholesale clubs, which undersell big flatscreen TVs, often by hundreds, and pretty much always by more than enough to justify the annual membership cost. Apple's iPad is available at Target and Walmart (saw them in there yesterday) as well as Sam's Club, but not at Costco (I don't think I've ever seen them in there, anyway). The Kindle and Nook are both available at Staples (and they have a helpful side-by-side comparison of the models in a brochure, btw), and at least at one time, Bed Bath and Beyond had the Nook.

Besides ordinary retail competition, Best Buy operates in the world of online comparison shopping. The entire center core of the Best Buy stores used to be music and videos; now the selection during the holidays isn't bad, but will soon shrink to the normal barely-there presence.

Best Buy carries Apple products, sometimes in an area near the front of the store, sometimes in the back (the latter of which is stupid); however, the previous models remain on display and in stock and at the original price for a while after the new models come out, and as Apple generally boosts performance with each rollout, it smacks of Best Buy's screwing-the-customer.


88 posted on 01/02/2012 11:34:11 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Merry Christmas, Happy New Year! May 2013 be even Happier!)
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To: 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten

it has always been unpleasant to go to best buy. The music is too loud with store and boom boxes blaring. Sales people who only want to sell extended warrenty scams. They know nothing of their products.

TV’s are bait ans switch with off brand brackets to avoid price matching.

The only reason to go to best buy is to see a product (or out dated version of the product) and buy the same product for less on line for less aggrivation.


89 posted on 01/02/2012 11:36:56 AM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: SamAdams76
The personnel hiring policy is to pay about 35% above minimum wage, and use security to weed the hires.

When it comes to promotions through the ranks, they don't do that which is why they really do need to use security to weed the hires.

This is a vicious circle that will take them down.

90 posted on 01/02/2012 11:37:16 AM PST by muawiyah
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Comment #91 Removed by Moderator

To: ken5050

I got the same deal as you for the Bravia, plus the free Blueray DVD player at Christmas 2008. I was shocked when they delivered it in a crate with free shipping. The TV was marked down from $3600 (price at Best Buy) to $1999 plus free blue ray player delivered to my door for free and no high dollar TN sales tax. BB can kiss my patootie!

I love Amazon. I’ve had to return a few things over the years and have yet to have a problem. They’re amazing.


92 posted on 01/02/2012 11:40:18 AM PST by publana (Beware the olive branch extended by a Dem for it disguises a clenched fist.)
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To: muawiyah

I bought my first TV online from Amazon over the holidays. It was a Sharp Quattron. Great TV; yeah and it actually worked despite the packaging being banged up. I didn’t even have to sign for it. Luckily I got home just as he was driving off.

Soon after I got it, I read about this UPS guy who dumped/tossed a TV over someone’s fence. Caveat Emptor!


93 posted on 01/02/2012 11:43:03 AM PST by A'elian' nation (Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred. Jacques Barzun)
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To: ken5050

Stay far away from HH Gregg....if you buy anything with cash over $250 and then need to return it, they make you wait 10 days to get a check from them. Doesn’t matter if you have a receipt. Policy is posted next to the checkout. Hubby and I were going to buy our son a laptop there and my husband had them void the transaction and walked out. They also talked my sister-in-laws father into a credit card he did not want or need. He walked in with cash to buy a TV and they got him so twisted around he got the card (older gentleman). SIL went in a read them the riot act.


94 posted on 01/02/2012 11:51:58 AM PST by nurees (Oh...there is a NEW Mexico (Homer Simpson))
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To: 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten

it has always been unpleasant to go to best buy. The music is too loud with store and boom boxes blaring. Sales people who only want to sell extended warrenty scams. They know nothing of their products.

TV’s are bait ans switch with off brand brackets to avoid price matching.

The only reason to go to best buy is to see a product (or out dated version of the product) and buy the same product for less on line for less aggrivation.


95 posted on 01/02/2012 11:53:22 AM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

lol, that was awesome! I cracked up at “Call 911!” I worked at Best Buy for about two years, and that’s about what I would expect from a Best Buy manager. They don’t deal with variables very well.


96 posted on 01/02/2012 11:54:48 AM PST by Future Snake Eater (Don't stop. Keep moving!)
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To: basil
We bought our new 60” Sharp TV at BB in Springfield, MO in November.
Efficient staff. Answered questions. We were shopping for a 50” and walked out with a 60” because it was a good sale price.
I see BB moving away from CDs and common electronics into cameras, computers and whatever else is new...
97 posted on 01/02/2012 11:55:23 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (Gimme that old time fossil fuel.)
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To: need_auto_help

I would never have even thought to look up the racial mix of my town. Since you did, now you know.

However, the Best Buy I go to also serves several other little towns around here. but Texans usually are helpful and friendly people.


98 posted on 01/02/2012 11:56:04 AM PST by basil (It's time to rid the country of "gun free zones" aka "Killing Fields")
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To: Psalm 144

online taxation will only affect those sites in the usa.

it will just push online sales OUTSIDE the usa.


99 posted on 01/02/2012 11:57:46 AM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: Still Thinking

Man, if I had a great truck like an F-150 I’d do the same.

I usually see the same Porsche in that “Fuel Efficient” reserved parking spot at Best Buy, and it’s not green either.

Must belong to the owner.

And then I read this on the internet:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/05/best-buy-to-start-selling_n_225969.html

Who in blazes is going to buy a car from Best Buy?
Will the car come with an 80” TV ?


100 posted on 01/02/2012 11:57:53 AM PST by A'elian' nation (Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred. Jacques Barzun)
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