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Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

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Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#101

Post by sonnyblarney »

jamra wrote: post #77
sonnyblarney wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I don't have to give my information so I don't feel like I am being tracked." Uhhh, you for sure will. First - BB is very aggressive on getting this stuff from you cleanly, i.e. name, addy, phone number - so they can 'track you'. Second - VISA/MC transactions will absolutely be used for that and they'll try to match up their in-store with online experiences. FYI - Visa/MC/Amex will literally sell your transaction da…

Why are you putting ‘same day’ in quotes? Are you not getting products from Best Buy on the same day?

Because without quotes it would just be improper English and poor grammar; 'same day' is a term, not proper language. I would have to write "It would be nice to get stuff without waiting" or "nice to get stuff on the same day that I purchased" etc..

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#102

Post by reaperducer »

duxup wrote: post #20
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…

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…

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.

You should pop by again and see if it's still the same. The last Best Buy I went to has massive aisle spacing and was highly organized. That doesn't mean I was easily able to find what I was looking for (headphones are scattered around different departments), but what you describe is not what I've seen lately.

Like other people have said, the only reason I go to Best Buy is because I need something right now. (Replace a failed hard drive, for example.) I don't expect to get the best buy; I'm paying for the convenience.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#103

Post by segmondy »

gameswithgo wrote: post #86
gzu wrote: post #12

You really can't beat going into a physical store for a large ticket item purchase. No waiting for shipping, easy to return, viewing the product in store. Recently purchased a MBP from Bestbuy. The first one I received had noticeable back light bleeding near a screen corner. Walked back in the store the next day to return. The process from an online retailer would have taken weeks.

A while back we had a refrigerator die, and I was like "no problem, I'll run to home depot and get one". they could NOT handle it. Everyone seemed annoyed that I wanted to do this. They have refrigerators on the floor but only a few are for sale, and they can do delivery in theory but they didn't seem to know if their delivery guys were available or not. I went over to Lowes next door and it was the same deal. I was…

That's your experience. When my fridge was dying, I went to Home depot. They had one, I ordered it, they delivered it, even took off the door off the hinges to bring it in, installed it and placed the doors back on the hinges.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#104

Post by classichasclass »

zwieback wrote: post #95
classichasclass wrote: post #54

What was the "reality check" part about Ms Kordash's day at the end? She sold a TV, provided what appeared to be prompt and complete customer service, and the customers seemed to like her. The main drawback -- a relatively older clientele which may not necessarily be big consumers of the latest shiny -- was more due to the area she was serving. Certainly the level of service is expensive to provide, but it seems like…

I was asking myself the same question - maybe that field customer service and human contact are what makes BB compete effectively with Amazon?

Maybe, but the choice of words implied that there was some limit on their aspirations. However, she seemed to do very well in the field and clearly represented a competitive differentiator. I'm sure Amazon is taking notes.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#105

Post by taeric »

emodendroket wrote: post #55
adventured wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It shouldn't necessarily be dead. The floated premise doesn't actually make any sense. It's a media panic click-bait parade that has been going on for 20 years (only briefly pausing after the dotcom bubble implosion). The death of physical retail! When the media serves up that headline, they get an easy win every direction. If it becomes true, they're on the money with their fear mongering. If it doesn't come true, t…

To be fair, retail is different than it used to be; there is now little role for professional salespeople who really know their product (like a high-end, dedicated stereo store would have had in the past). At least this is my impression.

My guess is the role of professional sales people in retail was always over stated. People like having a personal relationship when they can, but often that is a major luxury and probably doesn't actually help in the product selection.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#106

Post by reaperducer »

sonnyblarney wrote: post #68
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…

"I don't have to give my information so I don't feel like I am being tracked." Uhhh, you for sure will. First - BB is very aggressive on getting this stuff from you cleanly, i.e. name, addy, phone number - so they can 'track you'. Second - VISA/MC transactions will absolutely be used for that and they'll try to match up their in-store with online experiences. FYI - Visa/MC/Amex will literally sell your transaction da…

Visa/MC/Amex will literally sell your transaction data to almost anyone

There was an article linked on HN last year which indicated that Google gets 80% of all card transactions. My guess is that it's more by now.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#107

Post by segmondy »

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #23
gzu wrote: post #12

You really can't beat going into a physical store for a large ticket item purchase. No waiting for shipping, easy to return, viewing the product in store. Recently purchased a MBP from Bestbuy. The first one I received had noticeable back light bleeding near a screen corner. Walked back in the store the next day to return. The process from an online retailer would have taken weeks.

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.

I've bought plenty of SD cards online for my raspberry pi and dashcam. They all die and start giving errors within a month or two. Even tho I went of my way to buy name brand, and not the cheapest 4 star cards. :-/

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#108

Post by throwawaymath »

MichaelApproved wrote: post #96
josefresco wrote: post #15

Like most Americans I order a shitload from Amazon. However the last item I bought from Best Buy was a TV (my old LG just ... died). Ordered online, chose to pick up in store. Drive 35 min to store Pickup process takes 10-15 min Drive 35 min home. Left after dinner, was watching it that evening. The only condition that would have prevented me from using this model would be traffic, as it could extend the trip by 60-9…

> Like most Americans I order a shitload from Amazon. I do too but can we say "most" Americans? Are there any stats available on their customers? I wonder, how many Americans have purchased at least one thing on Amazon? How many have in the past year? What's the average spend per customer per year?

Here you go: https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2017/06/17/sixty-four...

tl;dr: As of June 2017, 64% of American households had Amazon Prime. 43% of all American dollars spent online are spent at Amazon.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#109

Post by seiferteric »

danielhlockard wrote: post #4

Best Buy was great the day my GPU died and I needed a new one by the evening. Prices were pretty good.

I actually got my GTX 1080 there a couple years back. It was the only place that actually had them in stock and was the same price as online.
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