Best Buy to close stores and cut jobs.

Borg 386 · 06 Apr 2012

This is more then likely a trend which we'll be seeing more of down the road. More brick & mortars closing.

The last generation was raised that if you want something, you need to go to the store and get it. This generation has grown up with the internet & the convenience of being able to look something up, find the lowest price & have it shipped right to your front door. Granted, there are still things you need to go to a store to get, but as far as, say, books & electronics are concerned, that market is moving steadily towards online purchases.

People won't mind paying a little extra if it's convenient. That's what most of it boils down to, convenience.

windude99 · 06 Apr 2012

Borg 386 said:

This is more then likely a trend which we'll be seeing more of down the road. More brick & mortars closing.

The last generation was raised that if you want something, you need to go to the store and get it. This generation has grown up with the internet & the convenience of being able to look something up, find the lowest price & have it shipped right to your front door. Granted, there are still things you need to go to a store to get, but as far as, say, books & electronics are concerned, that market is moving steadily towards online purchases.

People won't mind paying a little extra if it's convenient. That's what most of it boils down to, convenience.

You also don't have to worry about the annoying sales people at Bestbuy.

Maguscreed · 06 Apr 2012

Never have understood the best buy sales people.
If you are actually there to buy something god help you finding one.

If you are just looking around and want to be left alone, you have to start fending them off.

chris1neji · 06 Apr 2012

Maguscreed said:

Never have understood the best buy sales people.
If you are actually there to buy something god help you finding one.

If you are just looking around and want to be left alone, you have to start fending them off.

I think they see you as a potential customer that although you don't plan to buy something they can convinced you. After all every customer is a another potential opportunity.

I work part time at a restaurant and my boss is really pushy and getting customers to sit down and eat even if they just wanna look at our place (unique). He tells us to be better at it too.

Maguscreed · 06 Apr 2012

At the same time they've lost multiple sales with me because I couldn't get assistance when it was actually needed.
Doing one at the cost of the other is the stupidity here.

It's microcenter for me now. It's about twice maybe even three times the drive, but well worth it.
Not too mention the sales people treat me the same whether I show up clean cut in my Sunday best or I look like I just survived a zombie Apocalypse.
Which given the weird hours I'm often forced to keep happens more than one might think.

Also the only place on the planet that has ever let me actually return software.
(granted it did take a little doing)

jimbo45 · 06 Apr 2012

Hi there
Online buying is fine most of the time but there is still a need for "Physical Stores" for certain Items -- say you need that extra mini-usb cable or you've got a desperate instant need for a NEW / EXTRA disk drive then you want it NOW whatever the cost.

I agree that "Physical shopping" is usually a pretty horrendous experience

1) security guards following you around everywhere
2) if you are just Looking -- sales staff will often keep pestering you "Can I help you please" except when you really DO want to ask a question and then like magic there's nobody available.

3) and this irritates me almost most of all -- often you want to look at say the features of a camera or something -- then the devices are stacked up almost out of sight where you have to crane your necks to see it -- and PLEASE STORES when I'm looking at something like a LCD TV I WANT to see the BACK / SIDES to check things like how many HDMI slots, whether there's a VGA connector, the convenience say of plugging in a Computer when I've got the TV home -- I don't want to have to fiddle at the back of the set every time I want to plug a computer in. A Side connector is a lot more convenient -- some TV's have these some don't which is why it's nice to be able to check.

I don't want to see all these types of physical stores disappear -- what happens then is that you get large swathes of former shopping areas devoid of anything except incredibily tatty stinky fast food outlets -- anybody visiting London should look at what's happened to what used to be a bustling shopping area - Tooting Broadway -- now probably a solid 3 km stretch with NOTHING but fast food outlets on BOTH SIDES of the main street. !!!

However the stores will have to make themselves more customer friendly.

Apart from the queues one electronics store that seems to have a decent layout and very accessible displays is the Media Markt store in the Rue Neuf in Central Brussels -- always very busy and quite helpful ( and apart from Flemish / Dutch and French they speak English, German and Spanish too) -- not the cheapest but that's not essentially why you go there.

So I hope we don't get left with the wasteland that Tooting Broadway is with it's zillions of take away outlets and that small towns can remain vibrant -- but this can only happen if the stores try and make the customer experience as pleasant as possible -- especially for Men who usually can't stand shopping in the first place.

cheers
jimbo