Best Buy Should Buy Consumer Electronic Startups

Post by mc32 » Mon, Aug 20, 2012, 10:43 PM UTC

sadga wrote: post #25

ChuckMcM wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Too many people confuse distribution and product development. While I laud the OPs suggestion that retailers like Best Buy might be more competitive if they could source products that Amazon cannot, there is an existence proof for this called "Pier 1 Imports" whose "special sauce" consisted almost entirely with seeking out niche suppliers, locking up a retail relationship with them, and putting their stuff into…

But Amazon has Marketplace and 3rd-party sellers, so how could Best But get any product that Amazon cannot?

The way I understood the article is that BB (would) buy these small companies out (and thus lock up the distribution and lock out the Amazons of the world).

Post by brucehart » Mon, Aug 20, 2012, 11:25 PM UTC

replicatorblog wrote: post #23

hapless wrote: post #21

This hypothetical business model exists already: It's called Brookstone. They go out and find unique gadgets to sell at high markups in malls. It would be interesting to see that format adapted to Best Buy's "big box" real estate and store format. (In other words it is hard for me to imagine how it would work.)

Yep! You beat me to it. I wonder if it would be possible for some big brands like Dyson, Samsung, etc. to band together and maintain the retail show rooms. Perhaps a new holding company could be formed to manage the real estate on a more "Walmart" like 2-3% margin with the HW companies bearing most of the cost of retail, but also gaining a much larger chunk of margin. I think retail is going to become a very interest…

I read somewhere that JCPenney is shifting to a strategy like this for clothing brands. The stores will start to shift to a cluster of mini-showrooms that each showcase a different brand. My first thought when I heard this is that the brands that are strong enough to be successful in this format would have already have their own store in malls.

I think such a strategy would only work for marquee brands. Apple can get away with a store with nothing but Apple products, but I wouldn't want to buy a TV from a store that only sold LGs. I would want to compare across brands since there is little to differentiate an LG from a Sharp or Samsung.

Re: Best Buy Should Buy Consumer Electronic Startups

Re: Best Buy Should Buy Consumer Electronic Startups