Bloomberg:
With more than 1,000 big-box stores in North America and about 125,000 employees, Best Buy was supposed to have succumbed to the inevitable. “Everyone thought we were going to die,” says Hubert Joly.
Instead, Best Buy has become an improbable survivor led by an unlikely boss.
He had no retail experience—Best Buy’s stock fell 10 percent the day he was named CEO—but Joly understands how to value, and capture, customers’ time. Comparable sales rose 5.6 percent last year and 9 percent during the Christmas season, the biggest holiday gain since 2003. The stock price has quadrupled. Even Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is impressed. “The last five years, since Hubert came to Best Buy, have been remarkable,” he said at an appearance in April.
Not many people thought Best Buy could have pulled themselves out of the mess they were in ten years ago. They are not completely out of the woods but their success up to this point is remarkable.
Makes me think of CompUSA.
I imagine their Geek Squad service contracts are fairly lucrative.
I think the sales folks there work on commission which makes it a less than wonderful browsing and shopping experience.
There are still many people who:
1. want to touch the product before buying
2. are intimidated by technology and rely on “experts” for help
3. want to take it home NOW
4. are stupid
Manufacturers support Best Buy because there needs to be an alternative to Amazon, who would control distribution and price without competition.
I’m the first to admit I’d have lost this bet. 5 years ago, in the middle of all the Best Buy turmoil and cratering DVD/CD sales (which were a huge driver of customers to Best Buy at the time), I thought they were maybe a year from closing shop. Kudos to Hubert, not many could have pulled this off.
It really is shocking how much they’ve turned the company around. The stores are an incredibly pleasant experience, the prices are competitive if not great, things are actually in stock… I don’t know how Joly’s managed such a massive turnaround in such a short period of time, but Best Buy is GOOD now. I went laptop shopping with my partner last week and the associates at multiple Best Buy stores actually KNEW things, and were happy both to help and to get out of the way.
In Australia we’ve got a store called Harvey Norman.
Over inflated prices, pushy sales people with zero clue about their stock and shockingly overpriced HDMI cables.
You get the picture.
Yet for a lot of people it’s the first place they go to buy a new TV, computer, fridge, home theatre etc. Staff are quick to slash $100s on the spot, making you feel you’re getting a great deal. But the prices are so jacked up in the first place it’s still cheaper elsewhere. And then they start hassling you with extended warranties…
Oh how I wish the internet would kill off stores like this.
Except with customers.
Those stores have existed in one form or another for as long as I can remember. At the very least they’re providing jobs for a few people.
Well, they had some in thew Apple store area!
Best Buy suprisingly is the greatest. I had totally written them off, but they are SUPERB. You can pick up in store, or get it shipped for free.
They have the $0 fee best credit card there is.
They price match just about anyone (online and local w/i 25 miles). They deliver large purchases to the room you want it for free not just door step.
And they get your parents off your back about their malware devices.
They have top notch sales all the time, and often have top notch trade in offers.
I’m a shareholder and a customer and they outperform amazon on everything they sell (don’t have AWS, or all the late model items, or prime music or video, etc).
Hubert is a hero for investors & shoppers!
Yours truly,
a very biased fan.
They are, but if you can get your parents to use that, it’s amazing for them and for you and for Best Buy.
Amazon is putting Amazon Fire TVs and echo stuff at Best Buy. Not just manufacturers.
Ditto on this, but I’m a believer now as a customer & investor.
Joly is a legend! And FWIW if you think someone else has better prices find it, and Best Buy will match the price for NewEgg, Amazon, B&H Photo, and a few other online retailers, and any retailer within 25 miles. Price match is good in stores or online.
I don’t trust them very much to solve genuine technical problems consistently.
But as it turns out, we’re in the process of migrating my goober father-in-law from a decade-old Windows box to a Chromebox, and the purchases will be made at a Best Buy after he sees how the Chrome OS works.
We’ll probably buy our own cheap Chromebook at the same time, if only to be able to continue to specifically point out what a goober he is.