Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon • Hacker News Board

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#241

Post by therein » Thu, Jul 19, 2018, 5:19 PM UTC

daphneokeefe wrote: post #203

duxup wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had a lot of "two day" Amazon shipping turn into 3 or 4... the arrival date even on Amazon will show in the past for a few days. What used to be a sure thing from Amazon, I now just think of as "maybe". Having said that the crazy mess (tiny isles and disorganized) and $20 USB cables were Best Buy stores made me give up on them a long time ago. I've visited a few times recently to hopefully get a look at some lap…

If you are a Prime buyer and your package is not delivered by the promised date, you can request and receive a free one-month extension of your Prime membership. I have done this several times. For obvious reasons, Amazon doesn't publicize this much.

They owe met at least 6 months then.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#242

Post by levesque » Thu, Jul 19, 2018, 5:21 PM UTC

the_watcher wrote: post #58

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's great for a big-ticket, low-margin purchase like an MBP, but poor for cheap, high-margin items like cables and accessories. Which is, of course, where they really make money. They'll price match a laptop to Amazon, but cannot price match a $2 Ethernet patch cable because they're retail space, not a warehouse.

All that said, if what you need is a cable to get your big-ticket item working right now, a lot of us will find the markup on the cheap, high-margin item well worth it.

You save time by getting it right now, so that's worth something.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#243

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jul 19, 2018, 5:22 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #221

toomuchtodo wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is why you should have a separate account for AWS vs your Amazon.com account, and you should download and rip the DRM off your Kindle books.

Part of the appeal of Kindle for me is that I'm really shitty at keeping backups effectively. Separate AWS account won't necessarily save you - if they can connect the two by name, address, credit card, etc. they're at risk. If you've got a business, having it under the business name might do the trick, but that's still a risk.

[deleted]

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#244

Post by 3rdAccount » Thu, Jul 19, 2018, 5:25 PM UTC

Funny enough, I just went into Best Buy prior to a long road trip. My phone is old and has no memory left and I wanted an mp3 player to listen to some podcasts as well as a splitter cable to listen to an audiobook with my wife. I found cheap, but high quality products pretty fast. I love Amazon, but sometimes you need something right now. I'll be sad when all brick and mortar stores are gone.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#245

Post by WhompingWindows » Thu, Jul 19, 2018, 5:26 PM UTC

If your item has a high price, something like a laptop or TV, it's in the best interest of the consumer to see it in person, compare it directly with other models, and potentially walk out with it then and there. The lower the price of the item, there will be proportionally higher % of total cost to the consumer in going out to a store, in terms of labor and time spent.

Do I need to spend 25 minutes going out to pick a new phone charger for $10? My time is valued more highly than that. But for a $800 TV, the % of costs in the time/effort slice become proportionally much less. It will take me slightly longer to pick a TV out, but still, an hour of my labor at $35 is not even 5% of an $800 dollar TV, whereas the time/labor for me to get the phone charger in person is going to be much closer to 50% of the total cost.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#246

Post by mieseratte » Thu, Jul 19, 2018, 5:28 PM UTC

kitotik wrote: post #204

kchoudhu wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cash is still a thing.

not just at the point of sale though. from license plate scanning in the parking lot, to facial recognition and traffic analysis in the store, modern brick and mortar retail is not far behind e-commerce when it comes to privacy intrusions to collect data.

Never thought riding a bike and wearing a hat would help me out in the privacy department.

Do they usually have cameras at the face-level or just eye-in-the-sky cameras?

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#247

Post by _JamesA_ » Thu, Jul 19, 2018, 5:29 PM UTC

Fry's doesn't appear to be doing so well. The Austin store reduced it's product selection during a remodel a couple of years ago.

For a tech city Austin only has 1 Fry's and 1 Altex for serious electronic / computer stores.

I wish MicroCenter would open a location here.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#248

Post by coleifer » Thu, Jul 19, 2018, 5:29 PM UTC

kop316 wrote: post #10

I can't speak for the Geek Squad (as I have never needed to use them), but they price match to Amazon (and several other online stores), and will generally have what I am looking for (at least for consumer electronics). I know that I will get it that day (vs. Amazon's "two day shipping" that regularly turned into three or four days) at an Amazon price, it will certainly NOT be a counterfeit, and I don't have to give…

The counterfeit issue seems to be getting worse, not better. It's also become harder to differentiate legitimate listings from the manufacturer versus a third-party. I bought my smart TV from Best buy simply because I don't trust Amazon anymore. I'm having a hard time thinking what I wouldn't be suspicious of on Amazon...clothes are regularly counterfeit, colognes, electronics... Maybe books?

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#249

Post by LinuxBender » Thu, Jul 19, 2018, 5:29 PM UTC

dpark wrote: post #132

scarface74 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would never buy a laptop from Best Buy, Amazon, or any other third party retailer. Consumer PC laptops are like most Android phones -- full of third party crapware. I only buy either the business line of laptops from Dell or HP or I'll buy from the Microsoft Store - either online or physical store.

The bundled crapware has nothing to do with where you buy your PC. Best Buy doesn’t install anything on the PCs they sell. Dell does, HP does, Lenovo does. You get the same crap if you buy direct or from a retailer. If you buy a “Microsoft Signature” device, you pay a small premium essentially for the manufacturer to agree not to install crap. You might (or might not) get the same from the manufacturer if you buy a “…

In some cases it does matter. There is a local PC store that is very overpriced, but they will build custom machines to your spec. I used to build my own machines as a hobby, but I just really don't have time for that any more. Not every city has one of these PC shops, mind you.

I prefer local stores for computers as well, since I know where they work and they know that I know where they work.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#250

Post by chaostheory » Thu, Jul 19, 2018, 5:29 PM UTC

kop316 wrote: post #10

I can't speak for the Geek Squad (as I have never needed to use them), but they price match to Amazon (and several other online stores), and will generally have what I am looking for (at least for consumer electronics). I know that I will get it that day (vs. Amazon's "two day shipping" that regularly turned into three or four days) at an Amazon price, it will certainly NOT be a counterfeit, and I don't have to give…

> it will certainly NOT be a counterfeit

This is the competitive advantage that retailers without 3rd party sellers need to further emphasize