Collision Course Best Buy

[oscarsear]

We'd all agree that the brick and mortar electronic outlets are kinda of on life support.  So.........  recently my cable provider cut off their gratuitous conduit transmission of the 12 or so television channels that cost them nothing.  Thus if I wanted to have any regular access to TV I had to purchase a simple HDTV antenna.  No big deal....... and really it wasn't one.......... except.  

 

I live a little rural and on the way home from my gym is the local Best Buy.  I looked online and they had product so I thought I'd purchase from them - help out a little - do my part.  I pull up to the store at 0900.  The parking lot has a few cars in it, etc....... so I park and head to the door where I am greeted by this sloppily attired, corpulent Best Buy employee.  He asks why I am there - so I tell him.  He say I can't go in.  "The store is open early only to sell Iphones."  I'd have to come back in an hour - at 10, their regular opening time.  

 

I asked the young man if the cash registers were operating and if it was illegal to buy a TV antenna early?  He said yes, and no - to those questions and added - "We have nobody working in our home theater department so you can't be helped."  I said, well I really don't need assistance choosing the product..... it is just a TV antenna.  And to be honest it is not like your sales folks are all that knowledgeable in the 1st place (to which he took some offense).   You do realize that I can pretty much go anywhere and buy what I need, don't you?

 

I'm sorry you will have to come back at 10.  I asked him what his position with the company was - and if he had any understanding about customer relations?  Apparently he was done with the conversation and did not reply.  

 

I needed to go to Walmart anyway.  Got the antenna...... works fine - 56 channels.  

 

Mebbe I could understand this if there was a huge line for Iphones.  Not.  They turned away a miniscule sale, denied themselves the opportunity to stand out as customer friendly and bought themselves 50 pounds of sincere bad will.  Do you think they know this?  Do they wonder why they are in such business trouble?

 

Anyway - needed to vent.  Thnx for listening.

[The History Kid]

The problem with these stores is they don't hire on merit, they hire for working hands.  So that means you might get someone with knowledge of how a car works, but doesn't know a damn thing about home audio.  It's the route a lot of retail stores are taking - and it's not just in the electronics industry either.

[akdave]

It doesn't sound like someone knows how to think outside the box.  The idea of business is to do business and when they turn you away when there are cash registers running...   Yeah - it answers some questions as to why they are perishing.  They're paying someone to turn business away - why not pay that person to man a register and take sales of a non-iPhone nature?

[wvu80]

 

 

and on the way home from my gym is the local Best Buy.  I looked online and they had product so I thought I'd purchase from them - help out a little - do my part.  I pull up to the store at 0900.  The parking lot has a few cars in it, etc....... so I park and head to the door where I am greeted by this sloppily attired, corpulent Best Buy employee.  He asks why I am there - so I tell him.  He say I can't go in.  "The store is open early only to sell Iphones."  I'd have to come back in an hour - at 10, their regular opening time.  

 

 - "We have nobody working in our home theater department so you can't be helped."  I said, well I really don't need assistance choosing the product..... it is just a TV antenna.  And to be honest it is not like your sales folks are all that knowledgeable in the 1st place (to which he took some offense).   You do realize that I can pretty much go anywhere and buy what I need, don't you?

 

BURN!

(cut and paste) I live a little rural

 

I needed to go to Walmart anyway.  Got the antenna...... works fine - 56 channels.  

 

You got 56 channels?      Man, you and I need to talk to figure out exactly "rural" means.  Being in West Virginia, I am also "rural" and when I tested an over-the-air antennae, I got FOUR channels, TWO of which were PBS! 

+++

 

Have you thought about copy and pasting your original post to email and and sending it to Best Buy?  I would be interested to know if they respond to you.

Edited September 19, 2014 by wvu80

[dtel]

Not surprised really. look at Radio Shack, it's not to old stores with all the cool things that can be used to build stuff or repair things, it's a cell phone sales store first, and a few cheaply made accessories at best, and they wonder why there about to go under.

[The History Kid]

I want to understand why it is that all of these electronics stores felt the need to jump on the phone bandwagon in the first place - I mean...come on, the carriers carry all of the phones anyway - why would you stick your nose in that business?  RadioShack was a nightmare to work for when I did.  The emphasis was on selling phones and service plans (why you should CHARGE someone to have a standard warranty, I'll never know).  Feh...good riddance if they disappear.

[CECAA850]

I want to understand why it is that all of these electronics stores felt the need to jump on the phone bandwagon in the first place - I mean...come on, the carriers carry all of the phones anyway - why would you stick your nose in that business? 

 

 

You have to sell what people are buying if you want to stay in business.

[Quiet_Hollow]

The problem with these stores is they don't hire on merit, they hire for working hands.

That's a systemic problem affecting, all industries, right now...not just retail. 

 

HR departments (more likely contract employers) want to see resumes plastered with proof of "experience"...meanwhile they're completely inept at determining "potential" or actual performance...reading between the lines.

 

And to top it all off, far too many businesses (usually corporate in nature) don't take ownership of their core assets by developing their employees in a compulsory fashion. 

[The History Kid]

 

I want to understand why it is that all of these electronics stores felt the need to jump on the phone bandwagon in the first place - I mean...come on, the carriers carry all of the phones anyway - why would you stick your nose in that business? 

 

 

You have to sell what people are buying if you want to stay in business.

 

 

Profit margins on phones are ridiculously low.  Especially when it comes to the Galaxy Phones and iPhones.  The only business to be made there is on accessories, and that's a far cry as to what you'd make on pushing other products.

 

To put it another way, for every phone that leaves a store (retail outlet) that doesn't have an accessory, that store barely breaks even.

Edited September 19, 2014 by IbizaFlame

[Fjd]

I want to understand why it is that all of these electronics stores felt the need to jump on the phone bandwagon in the first place - I mean...come on, the carriers carry all of the phones anyway - why would you stick your nose in that business?  RadioShack was a nightmare to work for when I did.  The emphasis was on selling phones and service plans (why you should CHARGE someone to have a standard warranty, I'll never know).  Feh...good riddance if they disappear.

 

 

Cell phones are extremely high demand items; cell phones fall into the planned obsolescence category with an extremely large, bordering on gargantuan, secondary market for used phones and 'unlocked' phones; and extended warranties for the most part go straight to the bottom line as income for a company with very little offsetting expenses.

Edited September 19, 2014 by Fjd

[The History Kid]

 

I want to understand why it is that all of these electronics stores felt the need to jump on the phone bandwagon in the first place - I mean...come on, the carriers carry all of the phones anyway - why would you stick your nose in that business?  RadioShack was a nightmare to work for when I did.  The emphasis was on selling phones and service plans (why you should CHARGE someone to have a standard warranty, I'll never know).  Feh...good riddance if they disappear.

 

 

Cell phones are extremely high demand items; cell phones fall into the planned obsolescence category with an extremely large, bordering on gargantuan, secondary market for used phones and 'unlocked' phones; and extended warranties for the most part go straight to the bottom line as income for a company with very little offsetting expenses.

 

 

The problem with that is the market is super saturated with cell phone retail outlets.  Even vendor and company stores are over saturated with options these days.  There's no profit to be made on the actual devices.

[Fjd]

 

There's no profit to be made on the actual devices.

 

 

The actual device is the 'loss leader' for other revenue streams, commissions, rebates, kick backs, contracts, extended warranties, etc.  Same with the ink jet printer where the actual printer is the 'loss leader' and recurring revenue is from the sale of ink.  You can see it everywhere such as a grocery stores will sell you a head of lettuce below cost because more often than not, the purchase of a head of lettuce will lead to the sale of other items at a higher margin that may include tomatoes, cucumbers, salad dressing, cheese, etc. 

Edited September 19, 2014 by Fjd

[CECAA850]

Profit margins on phones are ridiculously low. Especially when it comes to the Galaxy Phones and iPhones. The only business to be made there is on accessories, and that's a far cry as to what you'd make on pushing other products.

 

I always thought that the real money was made on the contracts, not the phones themselves.  Plus, if you get them into your store, they're liable to find something unrelated to buy.  FWIW, I've never worked in an electronics store.

[CECAA850]

As usual, fjd beat me to my own point and said it better than I ever could.

[The History Kid]

I've seen profit margins of phones and the accessories.  The provider makes money on the contracts and a percentage of the phone.  The manufacture takes the rest.  There are NO profits on the device itself.  Even if you were to buy all of the accessories with a device, the profit would not be any greater than if someone bought say four blu-rays.  There is no recurring revenue to be had with cell phones either.  At least with printers, you continuously need ink, phones are a one time purchase until 2 years later when you make maybe $38-$56 again - and that barely covers your operating costs.

 

Here's a bit of interesting trivia:

 

During Black Friday (at least in 2010) - RadioShack ran promos on the iPhone 4S down to $119.  For every iPhone sold, they lost $40.  Even if the customer bought all of the accessories, they lost $10 per device.

Edited September 19, 2014 by IbizaFlame

[joessportster]

best buy sucks    

[eth2]

The issue is that the employee at the door has no discretion, He was told the only thing that was to sell were iphones. When we had small hardware, electronics, food, etc., stores, employees could use their brains and exercise their judgment. In big stores, as with an assembly line, you do what you have been told...no more, no less.

Edited September 19, 2014 by eth2

[Fjd]

As usual, fjd beat me to my own point and said it better than I ever could.

 

Thanks. I managed retail stores for a number of years, then spent a number of years as a financial statement auditor getting a close look at a multitude of revenue streams in a variety of businesses.  Getting customers in the store and understanding traffic patterns of customers were important in setting up our sales strategy.  These days many of the manufacturers pay a premium to the store for the more desirable shelf space and locations within the store.

Edited September 19, 2014 by Fjd

[nitrofan]

Happens in my auto parts store all the time. I don't see how some of the manufacturers can afford to pay so much for premium product placement

[The History Kid]

Happens in my auto parts store all the time. I don't see how some of the manufacturers can afford to pay so much for premium product placement

 

LOL!  That line makes me think of a brand that shall not be mentioned on this forum.

 

I like eth's comment.  Employers tend not to let employees use any of their own discretion anymore these days - and that might contribute to the problem.  I know at my job, despite it being corporate run, my manager tells all of us that he is our boss, not the DM, not the RM, he is...and he expects us all to make decisions for ourselves as if it was our own business.

 

That respect goes a long way for many of us.