theknowledgebase

If I were to walk into the best buy in my home town, it would look just the same as it did 10 years ago. The format they use to sell their products, the format that made them the current top electronics retail chain, hasn’t changed in all this time. At least a third of their store is devoted to  aisles and aisles of CD’s, DVD’s and software. Does this seem right when apple has since taken over the music market with iTunes and movies and software are quickly becoming the realm of digital delivery as well. Perhaps they should begin phasing out these sections, reduce the size of the store and staff, and concentrate in other areas. That leaves retailers to focus on hardware.

However, with internet stores selling products at better prices (which allows them to shop at home, save gas, and avoid traffic), it makes customers less motivated to buy from a store. That doesn’t make for a good story trying to generate revenue as a retailer. Being able to demo a product before buying it, having a real person identify the solution that fits your specific needs, and getting the item instantly are the only reasons to walk into a store now. Of those three, only one requires you purchase the item at the store.  This is going to force retailers to now start charging for what was previously just a bonus and the right way to do business. Good customer service is going to come at a price.

Luckily, (because we know they didn’t plan this ahead) Best Buy has Geek Squad to capitalize on the other two, selling services. Best Buy currently sells Geek Squad services to install any product, or teach the customer how to work anything in the store. But these services are very expensive and basic, the same knowledge can be obtained through reading the manual. What you pay for is one on one time with someone answering your questions instead of a book. What Best Buy (or another retail chain looking to profit in this area) could do is sell time with specialists to talk to the customer about the products they are interested in. Now I know, they do this for free, but customers would pay knowing they have the employee’s undivided attention. Now since the store is selling this service, they don’t have to force the sale on the customer, they already got the sale.

Ok, we know they’ll still press the sale; its what they do. But, some customers will still walk out and buy the product online with their new knowledge, but at least the store would be able to capitalize a little bit on the sale.