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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

#331

Post by dpark »

FireBeyond wrote: post #271
dpark wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s interesting. I’ve never seen that. That means Best Buy has some deal to get a special Best Buy Crapware SKU from the manufacturer. P.S. Gateway still exists? P.P.S. Wikipedia says Gateway is defunct. How long ago was this experience?

Not so much, but as recently as five years ago. They don't pre-image, but they open up the computer, and Geek Squad "optimizes" and "preps" it for you, including installing a bunch of crapware. And then when you ask for one that hasn't been "prepared" they look at you like "why would you ever want that?" and when you insist, they'll apologize that they have none of that model in stock that haven't been prepared.

Seriously? That’s not a new machine at that point.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#332

Post by Cd00d »

kchoudhu wrote: post #191
misterbwong wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally agree w/ your sentiment but don't assume you aren't being tracked. You most assuredly are. If you get a chance, try looking up how retailers are now sharing/selling "Level 3" data with some 3rd parties.

Cash is still a thing.

You need to turn off bluetooth on your phone too.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#333

Post by zanmat0 »

jurassic wrote: post #42
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…

Lately my items generally show up on time but badly packaged. I would say 9 of the last 10 books I bought on Amazon have had some kind of visible damage, from minor cover dings to folded covers and ripped pages. The worst is when they put a single book into a bubble envelope that is so oversized the book can slide around and rotate a full 360 degrees inside the packaging. This is essentially a trade paperback book in…

You think that's bad? I got my last book in the same package as a 40lb bag of cat litter.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#334

Post by rjohnk »

I recently bought a washer and dryer at Best Buy. I was thoroughly impressed with the selection and customer service. They even gave me a deal on the higher tier model after the ones I wanted were on backorder. I think they partner with Pacific Kitchen and Home to do the appliances.

Their remodels have gone a long way in getting me back there, personally. I had otherwise steered clear and was an Amazon/BH junkie.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#335

Post by j79 »

inferiorhuman wrote: post #316
j79 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prime member for the last 8 years but I'm seriously considering canceling next year (mostly due to the price hike in Prime). I've had plenty of items arrive late or not even at all, with stretches where I've had back-to-back-to-back issues with Amazon, so frustrating that I considered canceling Prime right then and there (~3 years ago). A couple times they were delivered to our neighbors house next door (who dropped…

Which carrier was being problematic?

Honestly, the worst was DHL. I got so frustrated with them, I contacted Amazon's customer service and offered to pay extra to NOT have DHL deliver my items.

The agent offered her apologies and noted they couldn't offer that (did refund me delivery costs), but would note the preference. Not sure if that "note" actually did anything, however I started getting substantially less DHL deliveries, which was a plus.

These days, most problematic is Amazon's own deliverers. They tend to deliver the same day, but usually late in the day or to the wrong address.

USPS and UPS are the best, with UPS edging in delivery time. I've had two USPS packages marked "Delivered" but show up the next day. FedEx seems to miss delivery times a lot.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#336

Post by AtlasBarfed »

I would say they are staying afloat, but still pretty far from shore.

Their stores are actually rented out retail space for Apple, Samsung, and other brands.

Their online is still somewhat of a disaster, they were #2 for a while but Jet/Walmart will probably pass them as they attempt to challenge Amazon.

Best buy is making no real attempt to challenge Amazon in online retail, a lot like Target isn't either.

Their IT is divided between dotcom and bricks and hate each other, and their IT will be lead by dinosaurs in brick and mortar for the foreseeable future, so the IT innovation that does exist is constrained by executive politics.

Their CEO is just punching the clock and doing what is necessary to trigger stock options.

So, again, treading water and not floundering, but "thriving"? That's like saying you're in the guillotine and there's a really nice breeze, and the blade hasn't been dropped.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#337

Post by superkuh »

rrix2 wrote: post #307
j79 wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The delivery, unboxing, etc, was all free (prime) "Free" in that it came with your Prime membership which you paid for ;)

your parent comment got more than 120$ of benefit in a single order; if you amortize the cost of that prime membership across a year and use it like this it certainly seems closer to free.

That parent comment is now also locked-in and will justify Amazon's extortion to themselves by buying more things from them without bothering to check other stores.

They end up paying quite a bit beyond that $100/year fee.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#338

Post by jsgo »

StillBored wrote: post #289
rsync wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly, the one place you could do this (walk in and buy a new washer/dryer/fridge and drive away with it) was Sears which has closed their stores in many major metro areas and are basically going out of business...

This is only true of a small portion of the sears with warehouse attached (aka the ones not in malls). Even then, I purchased my last two dishwashers there, and in both cases it took a couple days to deliver. If you want something right now, go to one of the scratch and dent appliance places. Same basic deal as hd/lowes/bestbuy when it comes to appliances, just about the only ones those stores have in stock are the o…

I worked at a Sears when I was younger. The location didn't have a large warehouse attached (smaller one, but it was only for smaller home and garden/electronics items), but there was one in town so for some items we'd sell and they'd go there to pick up. I do recall at points where items were sold from the store, but that was a rarity.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#339

Post by metiscus »

scarface74 wrote: post #323
emodendroket wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They probably have slightly different hardware to keep a price edge. But anyway, to anyone on HN I'd think bundled software is pretty much a non-issue; I've always installed Windows fresh and I feel like doing that isn't a big deal if you are technical.

Where do you get a free non OEM install of Windows if you aren’t an MSDN subscriber?

If it is Windows 10, you can do so here https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 Otherwise

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows8IS...

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#340

Post by justjash »

I go occasionally, usually when I am going to make a larger electronics purchase like a laptop, camera, etc. I still like being able to check out a physical copy of something and make sure it is what I am wanting.

I still like the breadth of options on Amazon and being able to get a lot of items to my door in 2 days. It actually happened yesterday where I went to a local shop and they didn't have what I wanted in stock, either wait 2 weeks for them to place the order and have it delivered or just get it off Amazon and have it on my doorstep on Saturday.

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