Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-07-19/best-buy-should-be-dead-but-it-s-thriving-in-the-age-of-amazon

by cohaagen • 8 years ago

371 437 8 years ago

Their prices are not too bad anymore. They usually are about the same as online prices and returns are easier in store, so I have got a few things from Best Buy. Most recently a Macbook for my wife was $50 cheaper in Best Buy vs in the Apple store.

knuththetruth• 8 years ago

They price match anything sold directly by Amazon and you can get some pretty good open box deals if you know what you want (e.g. people buy and immediately return MacBooks all the time)

giancarlostoro• 8 years ago

Also they do price match Amazon. I went to buy a Surface Book 2 and they lowered what I was going to pay to whatever Amazons price was.

bdcravens• 8 years ago

I've often saved on Apple products over the Apple stores, and their reward program is an automatic 2% back (obviously only matters if you buy enough there to ever cash in, which I do)

justryry• 8 years ago

Their prices on the big items have never been too bad, its the accessories where they get you. $25 for a store brand 6' USB 2.0 cable is absurd.

hinkley• 8 years ago

If you don’t want to live in a world dominated by one company, you have to shop at the other guy as often as you can. That means picking #2 whenever they are no worse than #1, not just when they are better.

When amazon has no competition left, the experience will worsen. If for no other reason than that the stockholders will insist.

at-fates-hands• 8 years ago

I worked at the Richfield HQ in 2010 before Joly came in and it was a disaster working there. Environments would go down and stay down for hours or days. I would come in at 8am and not be able to work until 1 or 2pm. They had such a consistent turn over, they would have 3rd party vendors and have no idea who the contact was or what company actually operated large chunks of their network. They essentially had a 70-80% contract workforce so the code was unbearable to deal with. Nobody cared about how bad the code was, they just cared the site looked nice. The amount of hacks I saw were shocking. Writing a 25 line script to indent an H3 title two spaces? Yeah, that was pretty common.

I left after 8 months. Several of my friends stayed on and noticed how different it was when Joly came on. Several years on, things have gotten significantly better. They've modernized a lot of their apps (even through their website is still clunky and old) and are in the process of revamping their site to a far more modern stack. Joly cleaned house and brought in people who want to modernize their software, and from what I know now, the people who stayed on are a lot happier nowadays.

SteveNuts• 8 years ago

I was almost hired a few years ago to work on OpenStack at BB HQ, any word on how that project went? I've heard through the grapevine that the project was scrapped.

fma• 8 years ago

I noticed that in the article, Joly gave back the employee discount and said it was a big morale booster. I think morale is important, especially for retail. Employees run the business, and store floor employees are the face of the business.

I've gone to Best Buy mainly for store pickups - but generally a good experience. One time I was there for pickups, and in general looking for a new vacuum cleaner...so I wandered over there. An employee approached me with a positive demeanor and asked if I had any questions, and even asked if I wanted a demo. I gently declined, she said I can find her if I have any other questions and she didn't bother me.

I didn't buy my vacuum cleaner from there...I found a clearance at Walmart that had great reviews. But if I wanted to buy one at retail value (or at least, non-clearance price) I'd go to Best Buy...good customer service, and they'll match anyone.

Happy employees = good business. I work for a big company, and management always does surveys. One of the biggest complaints is we don't get free coffee. The executives addressed it and responded...no free coffee. Would you rather want free coffee, or hire more employees? (funny thing is we're not hiring)

mmt2• 8 years ago

Would you rather want free coffee, or hire more employees? (funny thing is we're not hiring)

Indeed, an amusing twist on the traditional false dichotomy: the truth isn't that you can actually have both, but, rather, that you can't have either one.

LargeWu2• 8 years ago

I did a couple of 2-year stints there as a contractor; about a dozen years ago, and a few years ago. When I worked there most recently, my team was at first given a lot of leeway to use our own toolsets and and processes, things were going well, but then we got caught up in some turf battles between the IT and BBY.com organizations and everything kind of fell apart. Everybody left or got let go and they eventually offshored our team. Regardless I think things are way better than the Brian Dunn years.

danielhlockard• 8 years ago

Best Buy was great the day my GPU died and I needed a new one by the evening. Prices were pretty good.

0xcde4c3db• 8 years ago

The GPU bubble kind of blunted that instant-gratification appeal for me recently. They've apparently begun to accept reality, but some of their GPU prices are still significantly inflated compared to other vendors. For example, their in-store Vega 56 card is $629.99 vs. Newegg selling comparable cards for under $500, and that specific model number seems to be exclusive to Best Buy so they can refuse to price-match.

avgDev• 8 years ago

Speaking of GPUs. I bought a ATI card for $600 during a mining craze. I had issues with blue screens, and they took it back 6 months after purchase and refunded me full price, even though it was selling for $370 at the time.

Pretty good customer service if you ask me. I mainly want to support local store because Amazon used to have much better pricing than all the physical stores, but now it is not the case. However, it is much convenient to find the item online instead of going to store and finding out the item is not there.

fireattack• 8 years ago

Mining existed when ATI is still a thing?

seiferteric2• 8 years ago

I actually got my GTX 1080 there a couple years back. It was the only place that actually had them in stock and was the same price as online.

taeric8• 8 years ago

Why should it be dead? Poor management and bad money practices of some other competitors does not mean the retail segment is dead. Just that over leveraged companies are risky. No?

stephengillie3• 8 years ago

Leveraged buyout failures have taken out many large retail companies recently, such as Toys R Us. These are leading many to declare the "end of the mall" as they see anchor stores closing. But there are still many opportunities in retail.

axaxs2• 8 years ago

Best Buy used to have extremely shady practices, and to some extent still does. They used to have lower prices online, and higher in store, and IIRC not match their own website, nor online competitors. As I understand it, this has changed, their policy looks sane now. Last time I walked in to purchase a laptop, the only ones available had a small packet taped to them of 'upgrades' or antivirus or whatever that cost a ton. I had to track down an employee who had to get a ladder to find the same model with no such attachment.

emodendroket20• 8 years ago

They gave me a free antivirus product I never installed with my laptop.

adventured• 8 years ago

It shouldn't necessarily be dead. The floated premise doesn't actually make any sense. It's a media panic click-bait parade that has been going on for 20 years (only briefly pausing after the dotcom bubble implosion).

The death of physical retail! When the media serves up that headline, they get an easy win every direction. If it becomes true, they're on the money with their fear mongering. If it doesn't come true, they can breathlessly write stories about how physical retail survived miraculously (against a narrative they invented about impending total collapse).

Physical retail will remain a massive segment. Amazon - the poster child for the media's click-bait scam on this topic - long ago figured out that there is immense value in physical retail (for various reasons), which is of course why they bought Whole Foods and are bothering to experiment with Amazon Go store concepts.

emodendroket20• 8 years ago

To be fair, retail is different than it used to be; there is now little role for professional salespeople who really know their product (like a high-end, dedicated stereo store would have had in the past). At least this is my impression.

emodendroket20• 8 years ago

I guess those failing managers have been successful in casting their failures as inevitable.

mikestew• 8 years ago

Ignoring the pronouncements of "retail is dead", and what BB's competitors might do, I've always felt that it was obvious the CEO of BB had never put on a pair of jeans and gone shopping at his own stores on a Saturday morning.

Now, granted, it's been a number of years since I've stepped foot in a BB. But laptops all came with the $49 "antivirus and optimization package". You could get one without after you tracked down an employee and gave the secret handshake. They wouldn't honor their online prices in-store. They would try and beat you down with extended warranties and over-priced Monster cables that "it won't work without".

In summary, from the moment I walked in the door it constantly felt like they were trying to pull one over one me. Add to that poor selection, and horrifically bad service, and I would have rather done without than go to a BB.

Sounds like they might have improved recently, though.

danso2• 8 years ago

With the exception of Apple, Costco, IKEA, and New York-scale independents (e.g. BH and the Strand) brick-and-mortar seems to be on a consistent trend of dying. Departmwnt stores like Sears, Macys, and JC Penney’s. Even Nordstrom is running into hurdles as it attempts to go private. Entertainment chains in particular have been dying — Virgin, Tower Records, Borders, Barnes and Nobles. Among BB‘s direct competitors, who else is around except for Fry’s? Circuit City and CompUSA have long since died. To blame it all on “bad money practices” seems simplistic, as if there weren’t intractable costs that caused them to turn to bad practices.

kop3168• 8 years ago

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 my information so I don't feel like I am being tracked.

nicoburns• 8 years ago

vs. Amazon's "two day shipping" that regularly turned into three or four days

I find this experience interesting. Here in the UK amazon offers next day delivery (and in same cases, same day delivery), and often delivers next day even when they don't claim they will.

I have had problems with counterfeits though.

simias• 8 years ago

Same experience with amazon.fr on all counts.

kop3168• 8 years ago

From observing comments here, it seems to be regional and dependent on the carrier. In my experience it has been the USPS (though I am sure people in other regions will say UPPS is fine, but UPS is bad, or FedEx is bad). When I saw that Amazon was shipping via USPS, I automatically knew not to bother to check for it until at least the third day of the "two day" shipping. What was even more annoying is half the time it got marked as "delivered". I tried a couple of times to complain to Amazon, but that got me to no where.

emodendroket20• 8 years ago

I reliably get stuff in 2 days, but I live near Boston.

cloudblockchain• 8 years ago

There are states in India that are bigger than UK. USA is 3 times as large as India.

reaperducer6• 8 years ago

Here in the UK amazon offers next day delivery (and in same cases, same day delivery), and often delivers next day even when they don't claim they will.

The U.S. has next day and same-day delivery from Amazon, as well. It also has two-hour delivery in most cities.

But not every item is available in every delivery window. And not all delivery windows are available in all locations.

One of the advantages of living in a small country like the U.K. is that it's much easier to cover the whole territory. (U.S. is 40x larger than U.K., with 1/8th the density.)

Even though it's habitual for euro-HNers to compare themselves to the U.S., it's more often than not meaningless.

blakes• 8 years ago

All depends on how close to a warehouse you are. I'm in Seattle and most items I order from Amazon are free same day shipping.

duxup• 8 years ago

I've had a lot of "two day" Amazon shipping turn into 3 or 4... the arrival date even on Amazon will show in the past for a few days.

What used to be a sure thing from Amazon, I now just think of as "maybe".

Having said that the crazy mess (tiny isles and disorganized) and $20 USB cables were Best Buy stores made me give up on them a long time ago. I've visited a few times recently to hopefully get a look at some laptops, but they always only had a collection off odd models and wonky specs.

paulgb• 8 years ago

I almost bought a calendar on Prime today only to see that it "usually ships in 1-2 months(!)"

Increasingly it feels like as a Prime subscriber I pay for shipping twice: once with my prime subscription, and a second time with the shipping cost built in to the price compared to other retailers. I ended up getting an equivalent item from Target, which ended up being cheaper even without "free" shipping.

reaperducer6• 8 years ago

Having said that the crazy mess (tiny isles and disorganized) and $20 USB cables were Best Buy stores made me give up on them a long time ago.

You should pop by again and see if it's still the same. The last Best Buy I went to has massive aisle spacing and was highly organized. That doesn't mean I was easily able to find what I was looking for (headphones are scattered around different departments), but what you describe is not what I've seen lately.

Like other people have said, the only reason I go to Best Buy is because I need something right now. (Replace a failed hard drive, for example.) I don't expect to get the best buy; I'm paying for the convenience.

daphneokeefe• 8 years ago

If you are a Prime buyer and your package is not delivered by the promised date, you can request and receive a free one-month extension of your Prime membership. I have done this several times. For obvious reasons, Amazon doesn't publicize this much.

ceejayoz3• 8 years ago

I know that I will get it that day (vs. Amazon's "two day shipping" that regularly turned into three or four days)...

I've been seeing a big uptick in this, as well.

When I asked support, they gave me a response about "we only guarantee two days shipping time". There's no guarantee on order-to-ship time, and I've seen it go from reliably a couple of hours to 2-3 days at times.

emodendroket20• 8 years ago

I also was recently in the market for a laptop and the listings for Amazon were so confusing and full of pitfalls it reminded me of the bad old days of eBay. Like three-line item titles making it hard to discern what model you were buying. I ended up buying from Best Buy.

brazzledazzle• 8 years ago

I was shopping for a monitor and the specs that were displayed varied between items. Finding the frame rate they were capable of became a chore.

scarface7411• 8 years ago

I would never buy a laptop from Best Buy, Amazon, or any other third party retailer. Consumer PC laptops are like most Android phones -- full of third party crapware.

I only buy either the business line of laptops from Dell or HP or I'll buy from the Microsoft Store - either online or physical store.

jurassic2• 8 years ago

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 an evvelope large enough to hold a textbook. I have avoided returns because I don’t want to get banned from Amazon over my satisfaction with a $12 book (they are known to fire customers with too many returns), but I have started purchasing the books I want that I see in indie shops at full list just to avoid this disappointing experience.

ohitsdom• 8 years ago

Fire customers? I've never heard of that. My household is a heavy Prime user, and we make returns pretty frequently (few times a month). We've never had any issue.

mimimihaha4• 8 years ago

Honestly i’ve bought and returned plenty of stuff from Amazon. I never deal with their shit when something comes to me less than par. When I pay for prime, I expect to be paying for any mishandling of my items as well. Nearly every item i’ve wanted to return i’ve been told to just keep and i’ve never had any trouble with them. I always tell them i’m more than happy to send it back but they always refuse and just tell me to keep it anyways. I’ve been refunded several items in the $60-$70 range and told to keep it. It takes a lot to actually get flagged in their system. Especially if you’ve been a prime member for several years. (I think we’ve been members since 2008 or so). Don’t ever be scared to ask for it when it’s necessary and get your hard earned cash back.

byproxy2• 8 years ago

I recommend buying used on AbeBooks. You can find what you want in pretty good quality for cheap and will have no trouble accepting a couple of dings.

pasbesoin2• 8 years ago

Bought a couple of fixed sleeve professional mechanical pencils from them. They came loose, along with another, much heavier item, in a box without padding. All just bouncing around against each other.

Even when padding is put into a shipping box, often it's a rectangle or two of "air pillow" that doesn't come close to filling the free space. And/or some of the pillows are broken and deflated.

I've become concerned about how they will ship things.

And, with news of their apparent "kill accounts with too many returns" overreach or arbitrary-ness... Yes, ordering from Amazon is no longer a no-brainer.

(Not to mention the counterfeit problem; that, I myself mostly seem to have avoided by paying attention to the listed fulfillers. And the $150 billion versus temp employees who have to pee in bottles and collect benefits disparity.)

Sorry, I reiterate, occasionally in comments, because at this point, I believe bad PR is the only thing I can contribute to that has any impact.

Well, also, starting to make more of an effort to shop competitors, as pointed out in this comment thread. As to that, secure your payments process. For a while, that helped hold me to Amazon.

pascalxus• 8 years ago

you should definitely return those things. I've never heard of them firing their customers. I don't think Amazon got to where they are by offering a terrible service. And even if they do ban you, you can always go to a indie book store and there's plenty of other places online that sell books.

zanmat0• 8 years ago

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

mkirschner• 8 years ago

Same experience here. I buy books from them frequently (Prime) and it's been years since they had proper packaging for books. It must save them time and money. I can't help but wonder if they're playing a numbers game, with a spreadsheet model showing it's more profitable to do it that way because "enough" customers will tolerate it and not demand an exchange. If a book arrives damaged I request an exchange, and have never had a problem doing that.

PS: Been reading HN for a while now. This is my first post.

smsm422• 8 years ago

they are known to fire customers with too many returns

I think you are being overly cautious. I've been buying with Amazon for many years and returned a bunch of stuff for various reasons, and only times I had issues were third-party vendors, but Amazon never objected or gave me any trouble with returns. Of course I guess if you actively abuse it they have some triggers, but I don't think honest use has high probability of triggering it.

sc00ty• 8 years ago

but they price match to Amazon

As long as the SKU matches. A lot of products tend to have a Best Buy specific SKU which prevents you from price matching on amazon, because amazon doesn't sell the same exact product. I had this happen a few years ago when purchasing a router.

reaperducer6• 8 years ago

Yeah, lots of companies do this. Wal-mart is another one.

My television comes with a built-in DVR in most stores. But I got it at Fry's, so it has a special SKU and the DVR disabled so it can't be price matched.

ams61102• 8 years ago

It's in their interest to do it anyway. Going back 30 years to when I was into photography, the local camera stores had a huge problem with customers coming in, consulting on cameras or lenses or other stuff, and then buying from Adorama or another big mail-order house.

If Best Buy doesn't price-match, some people will browse at the store and then buy online wherever it's cheapest.

hokumguru• 8 years ago

Also, the item needs to be sold by amazon itself - even if it's shipped prime. That's unfortunately easy to overlook.

sonnyblarney3• 8 years ago

"I don't have to give my information so I don't feel like I am being tracked."

Uhhh, you for sure will.

First - BB is very aggressive on getting this stuff from you cleanly, i.e. name, addy, phone number - so they can 'track you'.

Second - VISA/MC transactions will absolutely be used for that and they'll try to match up their in-store with online experiences. FYI - Visa/MC/Amex will literally sell your transaction data to almost anyone. I went in to do a deal with Amex, their only concern was selling us all sorts of your buying data.

But it's nice to get stuff 'same day' :)

jamra• 8 years ago

Why are you putting ‘same day’ in quotes? Are you not getting products from Best Buy on the same day?

kop3168• 8 years ago

I am curious how they are "very aggressive". What happens with me is they say "what is your phone number?" and I say "no thank you", and they just skip it. Though it may just be my experience with them.

You are correct with the credit card, they will most likely track you, but you have the option to use cash if you wish.

SamReidHughes• 8 years ago

I semi-regularly buy stuff from Best Buy with cash without problem.

trash_panda• 8 years ago

You can pay cash and give fake data.

reaperducer6• 8 years ago

Visa/MC/Amex will literally sell your transaction data to almost anyone

There was an article linked on HN last year which indicated that Google gets 80% of all card transactions. My guess is that it's more by now.

gdulli• 8 years ago

You always have the option to pay with cash at Best Buy, don't you?

I assume all credit card transactions are sold to third parties no matter the retailer. The only exceptions are large enough companies like Amazon/Google who are in enough categories that they can make more money using your information first party than they can by selling it. It's not that Amazon/Google respect your privacy more than other retailers, they're just sharing it with other departments instead of other orgs.

3945494• 8 years ago

FYI - Visa/MC/Amex will literally sell your transaction data to almost anyone

Any way to opt out of this? I try to opt out of all the sharing I can with my bank, but if it's being sold at the Visa/MC/Amex level, I'm skeptical that helps.

chuckkir• 8 years ago

The flip side of this is that they charge $50 more than Apple for an iPhone. Why make all your customers demand a price match for something so widely known? It seems like it would irk most people in the hopes of extracting a few bucks from a handful of folks.

reaperducer6• 8 years ago

Why make all your customers demand a price match for something so widely known?

A lot of people don't have access to Apple Stores. There are twice as many Best Buy stores in the U.S. (1,001 vs. 500ish).

And unless you're super-nerd, or super-cheap, you aren't going to drop $1k on a phone online.

dahdum• 8 years ago

After getting multiple counterfeits from Amazon (including Ships/Sold from Amazon.com) due to the inventory commingling, if Best Buy stocks it, I'll go there instead.

Stubb• 8 years ago

I was sold a set of counterfeit Powerbeats3 headphones at Best Buy about a year ago. No reason to be suspicious initially, but battery life, range, and pairing were never great. They stopped working after a month, and I brought them back to Best Buy. The attendant looked carefully at the headphones and told me that they wouldn't accept the return because the serial number on the headphones didn't match the one on the box or receipt.

Anyone want to tell me how that could happen?

In any case, I called Apple, and they said that the serial number on my headphones was a duplicate and sent me a new set. Range, battery life, and pairing with the legit model are now all great.

acct1771• 8 years ago

Yeah, someone returned fake gear before you bought it.

Or, a middleman unloaded, knowingly or unknowingly, a shipment of fake shit to Best Buy.

misterbwong• 8 years ago

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.

kchoudhu• 8 years ago

Cash is still a thing.

tyu1002• 8 years ago

Bought my tv from Best Buy (in Canada) last year. Better selection than Amazon for electronics plus free delivery and wall mount and a store in my city in case of service issues. For small electronics I can also just drive there instead of waiting two days for delivery.

I like Amazon a lot but Best Buy is doing well for themselves in the new retail era (so far). In some ways, I think Walmart may be a bigger issue for Best Buy because they have a huge selection and a bigger physical footprint.

victor106• 8 years ago

The worst thing about Amazon is that they never ship on time. They used to be really good but its been horrible lately.

Also love BestBuy's work from home policy.

daveFNbuck2• 8 years ago

Best Buy also has a much nicer return experience if you have an issue with your purchase.

mirthflat83• 8 years ago

I haven't had a bad return experience with Amazon either though. Way more pleasant and hassle-free than other online retailers

coleifer• 8 years ago

The counterfeit issue seems to be getting worse, not better. It's also become harder to differentiate legitimate listings from the manufacturer versus a third-party. I bought my smart TV from Best buy simply because I don't trust Amazon anymore. I'm having a hard time thinking what I wouldn't be suspicious of on Amazon...clothes are regularly counterfeit, colognes, electronics... Maybe books?

jstarfish• 8 years ago

Anything worth counterfeiting likely is. A mass-market Dan Brown novel? A book is a book; as long as it's in English, you don't expect much from it, and it won't explode if improperly printed. A first-edition Lord of the Rings? Yeah, no. At that point it's less a book and more a collectible.

Software is also pirated on Amazon/eBay-- everything from resold OEM licenses (sans disc) to hacked binaries (sans DRM).

chaostheory• 8 years ago

it will certainly NOT be a counterfeit

This is the competitive advantage that retailers without 3rd party sellers need to further emphasize

nilkn• 8 years ago

There's both a Best Buy and Microcenter near me (I feel very fortunate about this). I always buy from one of those two when I can instead of Amazon. It's always preferable to not deal with shipping at all, especially considering receiving packages at an apartment complex is never quite ideal, and it's always same-day.

There are other benefits as well. A year ago, I was trying to decide between a 27" 1440p 16:9 144hz monitor vs. a 34" 1440p 21:9 100hz monitor. Microcenter made it super easy for me to just try out both and return one. I suppose I could've done this with Amazon but it wouldn't have been as straightforward. (I went with the latter, for what it's worth.)

biggc• 8 years ago

One issue I have with Amazon is the lack of a concrete return policy. I was looking in to order a relatively bulky item (soundbar) and I wasn't sure if I would like it. The best item-specific return policy information I could get was that I "may" have to pay for return shipping and that I "may" be charged a restocking fee.

I went to a brick and mortar store instead, bought the same product for the same price with a well-defined return policy. I ended up not being impressed with the sound and was able to return it without hassle.

For small items where out of pocket return shipping wouldn't be too expensive I'll go to Amazon, but for large items I'll stick to places with a local presence.

joemi2• 8 years ago

I agree that they don't have a clear returns policy, and this is a huge problem IMO. Also, if you buy from a "marketplace" (aka third party) seller instead of Amazon, they can have a return policy that's different from Amazon's (or other marketplace sellers).

As far as items ordered directly from Amazon, I've found them to only give free return shipping if the item is broken or there's another issue that's Amazon's fault. They don't seem to give free return shipping if I just don't like the product. (At least that's how it is for my account. I've heard some of these policies are different for different account holders!)

dplgk• 8 years ago

For things like that,I generally order from Target or Walmart so I can an return it, hassle free and no worry of shipping fees or damage on the way back.

kilroy123• 8 years ago

I agree about the counterfeit items on Amazon. I'm a long time fan and user of Amazon. My account is from the early 2000s.

After getting a few counterfeit items from Amazon, I'm officially done with them when it comes to electronics.

otterpro• 8 years ago

I always use B&H or NewEgg and avoid Amazon, when buying flash memory and SD cards (in order to avoid counterfeits). I also bought an SD card from Best Buy recently because i needed it immediately.

Anyway, as for physical brick-n-mortal presence, I just wished that I had Micro Center where I live, instead of Best Buy, though. MicroCenter has far more inventories, more interesting stuff (like Raspberry Pis in store) and better prices as well.

ajross• 8 years ago

vs. Amazon's "two day shipping" that regularly turned into three or four days

Where are you that this is true? This is directly opposite of my experience. I genuinely can't remember the last time a Prime/2-day shipment was delayed. In fact, I'll routinely and deliberately pay a premium to purchase something via Amazon Prime (both within Amazon and across internet vendors) precisely because of the confidence I have in their shipping reliability. No one else comes close, frankly.

That said, in fact I don't tend to buy BestBuy-style products at Amazon very often, precisely because these things are available at competetive prices at retail. Amazon wins for things I don't feel like "shopping" for.

3945494• 8 years ago

Where are you that this is true? This is directly opposite of my experience. I genuinely can't remember the last time a Prime/2-day shipment was delayed.

It happens all the time where I live. It's also not uncommon for my Prime packages to get totally lost by Amazon Logistics (I've never had that happen with another courier). At least now they automatically cancel those orders, I previously used to have to call them to tell them what to do when they lost my packages.

gshulegaard2• 8 years ago

I live in the Bay Area...I've had items be very delayed. Used to never have an issue, but recently (last 12 months or so) it seems like every other order has a delay of some sort (1 day or much longer).

My favorite last experience was:

- Amazon saying a package was delivered, it was not since I was at the delivery location...

- Amazon sent me an e-mail the next day saying they were deeply sorry for losing my shipment (unprompted since I didn't report it lost yet) and they needed to contact me regarding refund or re-fufillment...

- Finally a "neighbor" a few streets over came by with my package the next day. So all in all a 4 day delivery experience instead of a 2 day one.

Anyway, I don't know what they changed up about their supply chain, but something is much less reliable than it used to be. My hunch is their move towards more usage of their own "contract driver" model rather than something like FedEx or UPS. But that's just speculation.

chrisseaton• 8 years ago

I pay for basic Prime delivery, don't live in a city, let alone a major city, and Amazon usually gets parcels to me within about twelve hours now.

mygo• 8 years ago

I often times go to Amazon to read the reviews and then buy at Best Buy in person.

it’s also easy to do returns. walk in with product, leave with cash.

Also they can order products from other best buy’s, including geek squad certified open-box.

eblanshey• 8 years ago

Didn't know they price-matched Amazon, thanks for pointing it out.

gzu2• 8 years ago

You really can't beat going into a physical store for a large ticket item purchase. No waiting for shipping, easy to return, viewing the product in store.

Recently purchased a MBP from Bestbuy. The first one I received had noticeable back light bleeding near a screen corner. Walked back in the store the next day to return. The process from an online retailer would have taken weeks.

LeifCarrotson2• 8 years ago

It's great for a big-ticket, low-margin purchase like an MBP, but poor for cheap, high-margin items like cables and accessories. Which is, of course, where they really make money.

They'll price match a laptop to Amazon, but cannot price match a $2 Ethernet patch cable because they're retail space, not a warehouse.

nerdponx• 8 years ago

What about consumer electronics like TVs and stereo systems. Are those low-margin?

the_watcher• 8 years ago

All that said, if what you need is a cable to get your big-ticket item working right now, a lot of us will find the markup on the cheap, high-margin item well worth it.

segmondy2• 8 years ago

I've bought plenty of SD cards online for my raspberry pi and dashcam. They all die and start giving errors within a month or two. Even tho I went of my way to buy name brand, and not the cheapest 4 star cards. :-/

Dayshine• 8 years ago

Walked back in the store the next day to return

But they could have been difficult about this right?

In the EU at least, buying online means you can always return no questions asked within 14 days. Buying in store means you are bound to the shop's returns policy.

fhood• 8 years ago

Wait really? What's to stop me from setting up a side business selling mbp hard drives then?

JustSomeNobody2• 8 years ago

They could. But why would they? They're just going to return it to Apple.

gameswithgo3• 8 years ago

A while back we had a refrigerator die, and I was like "no problem, I'll run to home depot and get one".

they could NOT handle it. Everyone seemed annoyed that I wanted to do this. They have refrigerators on the floor but only a few are for sale, and they can do delivery in theory but they didn't seem to know if their delivery guys were available or not.

I went over to Lowes next door and it was the same deal. I was astonished. Couldn't give them my money.

So yeah I got it online, which was a very smooth experience but was without a refrigerator for a few days which is not good.

segmondy2• 8 years ago

That's your experience. When my fridge was dying, I went to Home depot. They had one, I ordered it, they delivered it, even took off the door off the hinges to bring it in, installed it and placed the doors back on the hinges.

crazygringo• 8 years ago

I'm not sure if anything has changed there. Huge bulky items have always been delivered from a warehouse ~days later. Online hasn't changed anything with that, I don't think. Sure, sometimes you'll get lucky with a popular model they keep a few of in-store, but that feels like the exception.

You can't go to a mattress store and walk out with a mattress either, generally.

Bedon292• 8 years ago

Yeah I was somewhat surprised when I bought a new washer and dryer. Took my truck to the store so I would have space, get there, and they are like yeah its going to be two weeks for delivery. They keep none of those items on hand, as they are too large. Its all out in a warehouse somewhere else, and they just aren't prepared for someone who wants something now. It makes sense, but is not something I thought about before experiencing it.

dyeje• 8 years ago

Huh, interesting. I bought a dishwasher a few months ago from Home Depot and it was smooth sailing. Picked the floor model, they pulled the item from the back, we payed, and then they helped us load it into the car.

donarb• 8 years ago

Just an FYI, Best Buy sells appliances as well. Not sure if every store lets you take them home right there though.

swsieber• 8 years ago

I'm surprised. I went to Lowe's, finally decided on a new dish washer and they got it down so I could stick it in my car. Perhaps refridgerators are a little different though since they don't fit in cars quite as nicely...

throwawaymath3• 8 years ago

Just out of curiosity, why didn't you buy the MacBook Pro directly from Apple? If I'm not mistaken the price is exactly the same in both stores. Is Best Buy just closer to you, or do you have a specific reason for going to Best Buy over Apple?

gzu2• 8 years ago

I think at the time they had a better sale price. It was a slight discount vs msrp. I also was able to sign up for a store credit card to get 10% back in rewards on the first purchase. Top that off with like 3+ Best Buy locations within a 30min drive of my area.

Ended up being a very good deal. If I bought from Apple would have missed out on free rewards, msrp discount, and the drive to Apple store is a bit longer

scarface7411• 8 years ago

Not Best Buy related but I tried purchasing an elliptical online from Amazon along with assembly. One company does the shipment and a third party does the assembly. The assembly guy cancelled on me because it was raining (not really hard) and he couldn't come out at a reasonable time.

I cancelled the assembly, had the box returned to Amazon (of course its not their regular shipping). I then ordered from Sears. They came on time with the equipment and they did the assembly.

Back on topic. I'm debating whether to use Geek Squad to mount my TV (I have no mechanical skills) or purchase it through Amazon for half the cost.

jmuguy3• 8 years ago

I ordered a MBP from Adorama and got shipped an empty box. It took about a month to get the notebook. I ended up ordering from B&H and having Adorama just refund me because they were taking legit forever to "investigate". I hate that I didn't throw the box back at the UPS guy when I realized it was empty :(

stephengillie3• 8 years ago

Recently I've started buying small tech items (wireless mouse, laptop bag, temp cell phone, etc) from Best Buy again. Being a WA State resident, I'm paying the same 10% sales tax on Amazon purchases (or near enough to not care), and not only can I try out items before I buy - I get free, immediate delivery too, no Prime needed.

Then, after getting the product, no worries about it being counterfeit - like the pants I bought from Amazon, sold as adult pants but must have been children's pants, as my foot wouldn't fit through the leg.

josefresco4• 8 years ago

Like most Americans I order a shitload from Amazon. However the last item I bought from Best Buy was a TV (my old LG just ... died).

Ordered online, chose to pick up in store.

Drive 35 min to store

Pickup process takes 10-15 min

Drive 35 min home.

Left after dinner, was watching it that evening.

The only condition that would have prevented me from using this model would be traffic, as it could extend the trip by 60-90 minutes and would also increase my stress significantly.

Whereas Amazon would take 2-3 days (maybe more) and I'd be shitting bricks worrying about it getting damaged and being forced through the horrors of shipping a return.

stephengillie3• 8 years ago

Bought a TV from Amazon about 10 years ago. UPS couldn't deliver on the scheduled delivery day because the box was too big, and was stuck at the back of the truck. So I had to skip a day of work for no reason. They delivered it the next day in the early morning.

Sometimes, shipping issues are truly not Amazon's fault. Yet still they can impact us.

jmuguy3• 8 years ago

I ordered a TV from Amazon. They use a third party service that schedules delivery with you. Two dudes came out with TV, unboxed and set it up (put on stand, plugged in power to verify its working).

A few days after delivery I noticed a red line running along the top of the screen. Contacted Amazon about replacement. There was some issue with doing a direct replacement so they had me purchase another TV and then refunded the cost.

Dude comes out and picks up busted TV, puts it in box. New dudes come out a few days later with new TV.

All of that is to say - it really wasn't a big deal to order it online. Shipping was still free. Also they took packaging material with them, so it was nice not having to deal with disposing of a gigantic box.

sfkjlkfagfj• 8 years ago

Same experience for me. The first time, I bought TV from Amazon I was a bit nervous. But the experience was so great. No need to drive to store, find parking, fit huge box in my tiny car, park car in loading area, unload, move car.... so on.

Since then I have bought more TVs for myself and helped friends and family who were reluctant to order online. No bad experience so far.

josefresco4• 8 years ago

Did you pay extra to have it unboxed and turned on? How much was the TV? I'm wondering at what level, or price they offer this service? The TV I purchased was not expensive, and the Amazon alternative was one of their "house brands" with Alexa integrated so I wonder if they'd provide the same level of service.

Did they schedule the delivery with you or did they just show up?

rootusrootus• 8 years ago

I wonder what size TV you have to buy before that is how it works. I bought a 55 inch TV from them and it arrived shattered, shipped by UPS. The return was painless enough and the replacement was undamaged, but still, UPS and not a couple guys with the TV on a truck.

notheguyouthink• 8 years ago

Interesting. We ordered one from Amazon, I think a 50inch, and it was put on our front doorstep in the tv box. It was undamaged thankfully, but it looked like a normal Fedex(or w/e) driver, not a special delivery at all.

mnm14• 8 years ago

Ordered a TV from Amazon the same way. The dudes said it was not their job to actually put it on the stand despite paying for and ordering white glove delivery. Had to do it myself with a friend later as it was too big to put up alone. This was about ten years ago. In retrospect, I should have known better who I was dealing with, but like most people here, I was ignorant of what Amazon was really like. This is minor compared to all their other shit.

jumelles• 8 years ago

I can't tell whether you're happy with Amazon's service. It sounds to me like you waited for delivery, got a bad TV, waited for delivery again... but at least you don't have to deal with the box?

No thanks.

nwsm• 8 years ago

Why is Best Buy's shipping from DC to store less worrysome than Amazon's from DC to your house?

josefresco4• 8 years ago

Good point. The difference being that "last mile", where I feel the transport has many more variables than a massive Best Buy truck moving merchandise from warehouse to store. It's also in Best Buy's interest to not damage the shit they're going to sell, whereas once the package is bought, and handed off to UPS/USPS/FedEx responsibility gets murky and easier to shirk.

The other major difference is my "return anxiety". If I get home and my TV doesn't work, I hop back in the car and swap it for a new one (round trip maybe 2 hours).

gnicholas2• 8 years ago

One reason Best Buy is still alive is that they effectively price discriminate between online buyers and in-store buyers.

I saw a deal for a 48” Vizio TV on bestbuy.com for $206 (in 2016, this was a screaming deal). I ordered for in-store pickup. When I went to the store, I saw the TV was listed for sale at $400 or so, with no indication of a better price online.

So Best Buy makes tons of money off folks who wander in, while doing good volume on online sales with lower margins.

joshlegs• 8 years ago

I mean, convenience has a cost/value. Moseying to your local retailer and walking out with a thing has value. Now, whether that's ~$194 of value, IDK.

But like the original commenter, the thing I love about Best Buy (and other mortar and brick retailers) is the "I dont have to wait on shipping and lost orders" thing.

mgbmtl2• 8 years ago

Oddly, I've had the opposite experience (in Canada): the online price would be the same as on Amazon. I wanted it now, so I went to the store (even though I hate driving to the suburbs/shopping mall), only to see that the item was 10% cheaper in the store.

(we always pay taxes for online purchases, so taxes are a non-issue)

sjg007• 8 years ago

I think the line that they use is that bestbuy.com is a different business then best buy. something like that.

megy2• 8 years ago

You think it is free to have that building, that staff, the parking lot, the electricity??

MichaelApproved3• 8 years ago

Like most Americans I order a shitload from Amazon.

I do too but can we say "most" Americans? Are there any stats available on their customers?

I wonder, how many Americans have purchased at least one thing on Amazon? How many have in the past year? What's the average spend per customer per year?

throwawaymath3• 8 years ago

Here you go: https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2017/06/17/sixty-four...

tl;dr: As of June 2017, 64% of American households had Amazon Prime. 43% of all American dollars spent online are spent at Amazon.

josefresco4• 8 years ago

It was a casual remark, based on generalizations about my audience, not necessarily meant to stand up to scrutiny - however there's also this: https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/13/amazons-share-of-the-us-e-...

CharlesW• 8 years ago

I do too but can we say "most" Americans? Are there any stats available on their customers?

"Most" is almost true if you only look at ecommerce.

"This year, the online shopping juggernaut will capture 49.1% of the market, according to eMarketer's latest forecast on the top 10 US ecommerce retailers, up from a 43.5% share last year. Amazon now controls nearly 5% of the total US retail market (online and offline)."[1]

[1] https://retail.emarketer.com/article/amazon-now-has-nearly-5...

gwbas1c2• 8 years ago

I bought two TVs from Best Buy and one from Amazon.

For both of the TVs, Best Buy tried to sell me insurance. They used the "refuse to take no for an answer" tactic. In both cases I had to say, "if you say another word about the insurance I'm going to walk out." I really meant it, too.

Amazon's shipper lugged my TV up two flights of stairs to a 3rd floor apartment.

yuhong• 8 years ago

I wonder how much the mining GPU shortage helps.

mistersquid• 8 years ago

Yesterday, I went into a Best Buy for the first time in ages because I needed a USB A to USB micro b cable and I was on the road in a small city (fewer than 50K).

I was surprised by how clean, well-organized, and well-staffed it was. When I asked where such cables were (not having yet left the front of the store because, not having a lock with me, I needed to stow my bicycle up front), the associate on the floor came over and directed me precisely and accurately to where the cables were.

I hope Best Buy figures out how to stick around because the cable I bought is actually pretty nice (braided cable) and I like having the option to buy quality electronic accessories from a clean storefront when I'm on the road (i.e. urgent electronics need and I don't want a low-quality no-name throw-it-away-after-5-uses knock-off).

xemdetia• 8 years ago

The thing I find Best Buy really useful for is things that actually need to fit you or do not have a standardized size or really varying quality like headphones or mice. I get attached to models of both of those items and eventually they get deprecated and I have to find new ones and the Amazon experience just doesn't work for those things unless you want to buy 3 and return 2 that don't work for you.

I also feel like it's the same with phones- you can can go and see if it feels right in your hand or if you want the XL model or something and since it's not a mobile phone store primarily it's less apparent pressure then the dedicated stores for those sorts of things.

I think they do have a place going forward if they keep the experience up, the other big box places you can buy electronics such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Staples end up just being depressing supermarket-esque experiences with half the products on the shelves being out of date by 3 or more years or just being the absolute bottom of the barrel in quality. It really feels like a struggle for other stores to carry decent quality middle of the road products, but Best Buy does well in that aspect.

fred_is_fred• 8 years ago

After years of not stepping into one due to them pushing Monster cables with every purchase I went back to look at appliances. I was pleasantly surprised. Sales staff was knowledgeable and they had a good selection. A much better experience than the home improvement stores I went to. Even better - my fridge went on sale the following week for $500 off my price, they gave that all back to me as they price-match post-sale.

SEJeff• 8 years ago

Best Buy still exists mainly because you can go and demo the gadgets. For certain things, you want to see them in person and they always price match Amazon for anything Amazon has cheaper.

I bought an 85" 4K tv a few years ago and it was not a cheap item. Do you really think someone would just buy something for $10k on Amazon and hope it is ok? I also paid them to have a team of 3 people come and install it on my wall. This is a case where the local store beat the online store.

chris72205• 8 years ago

Once Amazon started charging sales tax in my state, it was a no brainer to go to Best Buy first.

- Same price (or sometimes less)

- No waiting on delivery

- High confidence that I'm getting a genuine product

For me, it's the last point that's most important...especially with more expensive electronics purchases.

mieseratte3• 8 years ago

High confidence that I'm getting a genuine product

Coming from a guy wearing a $50 pair of counterfeit Billabong shorts right now, that I bought off Amazon, I agree.

jefe_• 8 years ago

I recently ventured beyond the in-store pickup area of a Best Buy for the first time in a while, I was pleasantly surprised. It seems they're positioning themselves as the smart home destination, pretty extensive inventory in this area, with product samples and descriptions clearly visible. They've also lowered the shelf heights and the store feels less cluttered (without feeling like an apple store clone). They also seem to be distributing inventory across regional stores to offer greater in-store pickup options. There are several Best Buy stores within reasonable distance to where I live, and typically at least one has the desired product. Staff seems generally more friendly as well.

LargeWu2• 8 years ago

Reducing the amount of music and movies they sell in store has helped a lot in that regard. They've reclaimed a lot of that space for the "store within a store" concept for things like wearables and smart home stuff, which brings a more inviting, open feel to the stores instead of feeling claustrophobic.

dugluak• 8 years ago

Last time I went to BB was to buy a Pixel 2 charging cable. A BB employee helped locate it and reminded me that it's called "USB C" cable not a "Pixel 2 charging cable".

rcoveson• 8 years ago

"USB C" cable

Would that it were so simple.

emodendroket20• 8 years ago

There's something to be said for just walking in and buying something you can hold in your hands and look at, at least if there isn't a tremendous difference in price.

qaq• 8 years ago

I buy big ticket items at BestBuy it's much saner for returns

jccalhoun• 8 years ago

I will pop into best buy from time to time to see if there are any good open box items or any cheap blurays. I am always amazed that they continue to give as much floor space as they do to appliances. I guess they have good profit margins and someone must be buying them to keep offering them?

jetti• 8 years ago

Up until a year ago I didn't do much shopping at Best Buy but now I do a bunch. What changed? I got a PS4 last year and joined their Gamers Club Unlocked program. $30 for 2 years and I get 20% off all games (new/used/pre-ordered) as well as double Best Buy points on games/gaming accessories. I also can get $10 gift card for pre-ordering certain games (which would still be 20% off). So for FIFA 19, I preordered and saved 20% off list price and then will be getting a $10 Best Buy credit on my account once the game is shipped to me. Oh yea, they will ship the game to my house for free too.

LyndsySimon2• 8 years ago

This is rather off-topic, but the only thing that saddens me about Best Buy is that it just doesn't feel the same walking in as it used to.

I remember when I got my first job, at age 14, in 1998. I cut, baled, loaded, hauled, and stacked hay in a barn for a local farmer. It was extremely hot and tiring work for an overweight geek, but it paid better than anything else I could have gotten at that age - I was paid by the bale and I want to say it worked out to about $6 / hour. I saved all summer with nothing in mind other than "I want to buy a cool tech gadget!"

At the end of that summer I convinced my grandfather to drive me ~90 miles to the nearest Best Buy, and walking in that day was the best feeling in the world - a whole store full of cool toys that I didn't have! I walked out that day with one of the first MP3 players, a Diamond Rio PMP300, and a 32MB SmartMedia card. I spent about $350 on them, which my family thought was absurd.

I proceeded to go home and fill it with songs I downloaded from UseNet, and took it to school. I went to a rural school, and I don't think anyone had a clue what it was - several people asked me if it was a MiniDisc player. I explained to them what an "MP3" was.

I wish I could recapture the feeling of walking into Best Buy in the 90s. These days I have pretty much every tech item I want, and there are very few things there that can hold my interest. It makes me a little bit sad to walk through the doors and not be excited about what I'll find. It's pretty much the very definition of a First World Problem, but it is what it is.

Back then, I wasn't really wanting "toys" as much as I was thirsting for knowledge and fields to explore. That little MP3 player introduced me to UseNet, then Napster, and finally Gnutella. It ended up being a pretty big part of what got me interested in technology in general and development in particular - I went from "Hey, this is cool, free music!" to "Hmm... LimeWire is open source, I wonder if I can figure out how to fix this bug..." over the few years following.

Ultimately, it led me to my career. I wouldn't quite go so far as to credit Best Buy with that, but it's fair to say that the store contributed a great deal to building my interest in a technology.

mikec30103• 8 years ago

We're the same age and this was exactly how I felt going to CompUSA in the late 90s. My first big purchase was spending $85 on a 32mb SIMM module for my Pentium 1 system (maybe it was 2 16mb, I can't remember if they needed to be installed in pairs, maybe that was only ECC?). I would ogle the DVD burners and SCSI cards but couldn't afford either.

octorian• 8 years ago

And then you discovered that there were online vendors who sold that same stick of RAM for $22 + S/H.

Back in those days, the price difference between stores and online/mail-order vendors was enormous. Mostly because the customer populations didn't overlap much, so they could get away with it. Also, the cost of shipping usually canceled out any cost/benefit with smaller items.

sumobob• 8 years ago

I had a very similar experience, replace baling hay with mowing lawns. I was an awkward shy homeschool kid but going into circuit city and getting that 32mb mp3 player on Black Friday made me feel like the coolest kid in the world.

orbitur• 8 years ago

Yeah. I've always been obsessed with music, and what I miss about Best Buy circa 1998 is walking into a sea of CDs with $20 and likely leaving with 2 new CDs. I never understood how the mall music stores worked, like Tower Records or Sam Goody, because their CDs were always like $18.

I don't know if all Best Buy locations were like this, but for seemingly every artist that was signed to a label, they had their full discography + singles with amazing b-sides + even imports from Japan (imports cost like $20 though). Just aisle after aisle, so much music to buy and making really hard decisions about what's going to fit in my budget.

It what's I imagine a candy store is to a 6 year old.

remir• 8 years ago

I think that's just the process of getting old. I'm 32 and remember fondly the 90s-00s when I discovered the internet, bought my first iPod at like 400$ cad (lol), but these days I find that I'm losing my interest in tech, especially gadgets. I love well crafted products, don't get be wrong, but I guess I lost the fascination with technology.

It's probably because I'm seeing more and more the problems it creates, like adiction to smartphones or unsecured gadgets with back doors (smartTVs, IoT devices, etc).

kevindqc• 8 years ago

Wow 32MB? Fills up after what, 10 songs? For 350$, which is like 500$ today? :( I understand your family reaction lol

jhgaylor• 8 years ago

I suspect the recording were either much smaller (Let's call it 30 songs which seems insane still if compared to an ipod but it wouldn't exist for several years.) or there was audiophile quality hardware in it in which case carrying 1 album HiFi wasn't too bad. You could change it out after school the day you get bored of it.

LyndsySimon2• 8 years ago

I think it held 8 songs, actually.

This was the 90s, though. The alternative was a CD player. MiniDisc was still a thing.

mi100hael• 8 years ago

I still sort of get this feeling going into Micro Center. They still have a ton of in-store inventory and cool stuff like electronics components and prosumer networking gear that you'd otherwise have to order online these days.

jkchu• 8 years ago

I feel like the main difference is not that the Best Buy stores have changed that much, it's more the dissemination of information has shifted so that the internet is where people are now discovering new products and toys. But I agree, I too have very fond memories of exploring the electronics section of stores.

adl• 8 years ago

That's what RadioShack was for me in the 80s. Pure joy entering a RadioShack as a kid, back when they still sold Tandy Computers.

classichasclass2• 8 years ago

What was the "reality check" part about Ms Kordash's day at the end? She sold a TV, provided what appeared to be prompt and complete customer service, and the customers seemed to like her. The main drawback -- a relatively older clientele which may not necessarily be big consumers of the latest shiny -- was more due to the area she was serving. Certainly the level of service is expensive to provide, but it seems like Best Buy is either able to handle or at least reasonably aware of that cost.

zwieback• 8 years ago

I was asking myself the same question - maybe that field customer service and human contact are what makes BB compete effectively with Amazon?

classichasclass2• 8 years ago

Maybe, but the choice of words implied that there was some limit on their aspirations. However, she seemed to do very well in the field and clearly represented a competitive differentiator. I'm sure Amazon is taking notes.

brynet• 8 years ago

At least in Canada, they changed their website quite a bit, accepting PayPal, having a marketplace with 3rd party sellers, similar to Amazon. Good for them, honestly.

zpr• 8 years ago

One of the main benefits being reported here is the instant purchase, however with Amazon Prime Now (1-2 hour delivery of some items in metropolitan areas), this somewhat goes away. I recently used Amazon to buy new computer parts to upgrade my PC, and when they arrived and I started assembling it, I realized I had gotten the wrong RAM. So even at 9pm I was able to order 2 sticks of decent 8GB ddr4 ram and get it delivered that same night by 10pm and finish the build.

What I prefer about Amazon are the reviews and selection. Even when I'm in Best buy, I'm on my phone reading Amazon reviews for the products I'm considering and exploring alternatives.

mmt2• 8 years ago

One of the main benefits being reported here is the instant purchase, however with Amazon Prime Now (1-2 hour delivery of some items in metropolitan areas)

I remember Amazon came out with this, but I initially dismissed it, thinking that the selection of items was too limited and never looked again.

I do, still, believe that limited selection is an issue, but what's a far greater issue is that I'm generally not even aware of what that is, due to lack of integration with their main shopping experience. Having to go to primenow.amazon.com and not seeing a "Prime Now" option prominently displayed for an item on their main shopping site means the option probably doesn't even occur to most people (as it doesn't to me).

Nowadays, there's also the controversy surrounding how Amazon "Flex" workers are treated and paid, which can have a more direct effect on the Prime Now experience.

gmiller1234563• 8 years ago

I actually think it's Amazon that has the poor business model, and I'm puzzled how it's working for them. They are usually not competitive on price compared to other sites, and sometimes it's the same price off the shelf at Best Buy. Big ticket items from Amazon usually have free shipping, but it's a 3-4 day wait unless you pay for "free" shipping by joining Prime. But I quit Prime a few years ago after 10 out of my last 10 orders arrived late. I can understand the convenience of using a single website, but when you can find the same items elsewhere for $30-$40 cheaper, I don't see why more people aren't shopping around.

MichaelApproved3• 8 years ago

For big ticket items, I'm usually shopping around for the best price. For little items I try to price shop but the convenience of having it delivered, saving time by not having to go to the store, simple returns (UPS will often pick up package for free), saving 5% on many items with the Amazon card, and their amazing customer service makes me forgive some higher prices.

tspike• 8 years ago

The value that convenience has in our society can scarcely be overstated. (I agree with you)

steveeq13• 8 years ago

But I quit Prime a few years ago after 10 out of my last 10 orders arrived late

I have a hard time believing this. I've never had late shipments with amazon nor have any of my friends. Are you exaggerating or is there any omitted context?

j793• 8 years ago

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 them off to us, thankfully) and a few times we had to contact Amazon Customer Service who just sent us a new one. In general, I trust Amazon to get me my item, but they're definitely not perfect and I wouldn't be surprised if OP isn't exaggerating...

BTW, I live in the Bay Area (and not out in the boonies).

gmiller1234563• 8 years ago

No, this absolutely happened. Since I no longer actually bought many things from Amazon due to price, I would only buy something from there if I really needed it fast and couldn't buy it locally. They were usually cheap, fairly rare items. Looking at my order history, they're things like some transistors, tent stakes, and printer ink. I imagine that played a role in the fact that they arrived late. Since I needed them fast, and they cost more than elsewhere, and arrived late, it pretty much means I overpaid for an item that was useless to me, and I had to do without it when I really needed it.

jinushaun• 8 years ago

Things arrive late all the item. Obviously, it depends on what you buy and where you live.

Before I started paying for Prime, I used to live somewhere (DC) where standard free shipping was always 2 days or less because I lived close to a fulfillment center. Now I live in a place (NYC) where things are late all the time, even with Prime.

philipodonnell• 8 years ago

Inertia

ryanSrich• 8 years ago

Part of it is stock. When I built my last PC newegg was sold out of almost every part I needed. Amazon on the other hand had almost everything and the prices were only slightly higher.

erikb• 8 years ago

In Germany we have Saturn and Mediamarkt, and these shops seem to work the same way they worked 15-20 years ago. In some regards the products available even went down, at least in the areas I care about. So really, every time I go into one I regret it. Not even USB cables are something I want to buy there because of the small amount of choice, because they are hard to find, and because they price cheat (i.e. put up a good price in front of product which actually costs too much; then claiming the way too small string on the price label says it's for another product), like many physical stores do these days here.

So I really want to support local, European companies, but there is no competition to Amazon here. I'd even consider Taobao before I purposefully would go to a store here.

actionowl• 8 years ago

I like going in to touch things. I often buy things that I wouldn't online because I can physically hold them and try them out.

roter• 8 years ago

Agree, with one caveat. When viewing via the website, a large fraction of items are "Online Only" through their 3rd party resellers. I'd like to touch but can't. Note: Canadian experience, may be different down south.

danso2• 8 years ago

I remember years ago on HN, there’d be debates over whether it was ethical or decent to go into a Best Buy store, then do a price check and order on Amazon, effectively using BB and other brick-and-mortar stores as showrooms. I remember the debate seeming split on generational lines, with younger folks pointing out that BB should adapt or die, and older folks arguing that brick-and-mortar was at a huge disadvantage no matter how low they cut prices, and that shuttered stores were a blight on real-life communities.

I still buy most of my stuff of Amazon but the nearby Best Buy stores are good enough that I see them almost as a premium shopping experience. Not at the level of Apple of course, but good enough that I’m happy to spend money there. I think the turnaround moment was a few years ago when I noticed a premium wireless mouse going for an incredibly low $20. When I tried to checkout, the cashier said that according to the system, it appeared the mouse was labeled wrong on the shelf, to the tube of $40 off. But without hesitation he gave me the discount anyway.

I would’ve predicted back when Amazon released its Price Check app that Best Buy would be decimated. I don’t use their tech support/consulting so I still am surprised they are surviving. Ironically, I now take advantage of Amazon in order to buy at BB. When I see something I like on the shelf, I check to see if the Amazon reviews are good. If so, I can buy it without the same level of nagging doubt about the product’s authenticity.

mikec30103• 8 years ago

The moral arguments extend beyond "brick and mortar" vs online. I think the bigger issue is how they treat their employees. One company uses "third party contractors " to skirt labor laws and has their employees pissing in bottles to stay in good standing.

gamblor9564• 8 years ago

Ironically, I now take advantage of Amazon in order to buy at BB. When I see something I like on the shelf, I check to see if the Amazon reviews are good. If so, I can buy it without the same level of nagging doubt about the product’s authenticity.

Same here! Amazon's a cesspool of Chinese knockoffs buoyed by for-pay reviews, but any item that's also sold at Best Buy must be legit (since BB went through the trouble of sourcing and buying it), so Amazon ends up being a great place for real reviews.

tacomonstrous• 8 years ago

I don't trust Amazon for technology purchases any more. Best Buy offers the same level of convenience (next day delivery in most places), with the added benefit of being able to pick up something same day in-store. No fear of ever being stuck with counterfeits or missing deadlines on pre-orders.

post_break• 8 years ago

Best Buy price matches Amazon (for the most part) and if I have to pay tax I might as well get what I want today, vs in two days. And if it sucks I can return it to the store.

Kinnard• 8 years ago

I wonder what to what extent this is driven by cryptocurrency mining and other computationally intensive blockchain use-cases.

bluedino• 8 years ago

Best Buy often has sales on Macs. Educational discount or just $150-$300 off. Plus you can save a little more on an open-box.

I'd also much rather go to Best Buy to upgrade my phone. I absolutely detest going to the Verizon store.

socrates1998• 8 years ago

I personally don't really like Best Buy, I feel like they are still kind of overpriced and don't have what I need a lot of the times.

However, I am not really who they want in their store. They want older people who only want basic stuff and don't know how to use it.

It's a smart play to cater to people who don't know how to do much. There is a massive market for older people who hate learning how to use their devices on their own.

Guest9812398• 8 years ago

Similar to a lot of people in this topic, I recently visited a Best Buy for the first time in years, and was impressed with the new interior and layout.

I ended up leaving and buying what I needed on Amazon though. I had limited time in the store and didn't feel knowledgeable enough to choose between a handful of products, so I went home to do some research before ordering.

I wonder if Best Buy would benefit from a lounge, where you can sit down in peace, read product reviews, and browse online to make an informed purchase. Or maybe they could have tablets on stands next to groups of products with reviews. For example, you go to the printer section, and there's a tablet that shows all the printers and their user reviews. Then you can quickly compare options, sort by price, and see what printers are best reviewed.

Sometimes I try to check reviews in a store with my phone, but I usually feel out of place standing in an aisle for 15 minutes looking at my phone. So, it would be cool if they had a place where you could actually sit down for a while to educate yourself and make a decision.

spathi_fwiffo• 8 years ago

If I'm browsing around a Best Buy, I almost always pull put an item i am looking at on Amazon, so that I can check for price match and check reviews/research.

kind of a reverse of the old model of playing with something in store, then buying it online.

wpdev_63• 8 years ago

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/03/geek-squads-relationsh...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/us/politics/charges-cia-b...

All you need into let one of these guys into your house and some child porn magically ends up on your hard drive.

I'd pay a local IT a bit more knowing that I am supporting a local business while at the same time not supporting corporate Orwellian culture(TM).

lolsal• 8 years ago

Amazon won me over with "real two day shipping". It was truly glorious when I signed up. It lulled me into this constant consuming state - shipping was so fast (and 'free' with prime) I could just mindlessly order any thing without waiting for a big shipment. I would order from Amazon a few times a day for days on end - any random thing I remembered I needed. It would all quickly stream into my house - I stopped even thinking about shipping and delivery days. It was wonderful.

They lost me with "not really two day shipping." Today, two-day shipping means "two days from when we ship it, not counting weekends, and not counting however long it takes for us to actually process the order, and then not even actually two days." 'Free two-day shipping' often comes in about a week for me. My constant state of consumption was interrupted by going days thinking, 'where is that thingamajig I needed to finish that project?' - often manifesting by ordering something on Mon/Tues assuming it would be here for a weekend, only to have it not show up in time, forcing me to run to the local hardware store (or whatever) and then return my Amazon item.

I still buy some stuff on Amazon - mostly things that I don't really care about when it comes as long as it comes. I've gotten into the habit of compiling lists at home of stuff that I absolutely need at a certain time and then making trips to local stores when needed, including Best Buy.

SketchySeaBeast• 8 years ago

I walked into a best buy for the first time in years, and I was surprised how much it had changed, how modern it looked, and how many staff were there. Unfortunately it was right after opening, so they all had energy to continually ask if I needed help, which was a bit obnoxious, though I'm sure super helpful if you actually needed help.

jayzee• 8 years ago

In the last year counterfeits have become such a big problem for me that my trust in Amazon has eroded dramatically. I wonder when that will show up in their stock price.

Yhippa• 8 years ago

The in-home service is the last thing I'd want. But I have been shopping at Best Buy way more than I used to.

Here's why. A few years ago I bought a big-ticket item (TV) and obviously wanted to see it before I bought it. They were able to provide generous no-interest financing via their co-branded Citi credit card. They have a policy of offering 12-month no-interest financing on many products and split up over that much time it's easy to talk yourself into buying things you probably don't need.

Also the Gamer's Club Unlocked is better than Amazon's game discount system because it works anytime, not just up until release. I've heard that they have ended the program though which would just send me back to Amazon.

j45• 8 years ago

I'm not sure why electronics stores should be dead.

They provide a discovery layer Amazon can't, including a hands on exposure, as well as Same-day ownership.

It might get interesting if Amazon opens their own electronics stores carrying their wider selection, though.

vlunkr• 8 years ago

Looking over the comments, it looks like no ones thinks Best Buy should be dead. I don't either. Although I usually avoid it because I can't get through the store without several employees badgering me, it still has a place. Especially for non-tech people who actually want someone to sell them a TV/tablet/laptop because there are an overwhelming number of options now.

superkuh2• 8 years ago

A lot of people are talking about the respective pros and cons of dense metropolitan use of amazon vs. everywhere else and shipping times, and how they're slipping.

But what really matters to me is the lock-in, or lack of it. When I order from Best Buy online (I don't go in person anymore) I don't need to pay $100 for just the privledge of shopping there. That kind of anti-consumer practice I simply won't abide.

bsharitt• 8 years ago

Recently I've found myself at Best Buy a few times after not having been in years. There's a few reasons.

For big ticket items like TVs, Amazon usually isn't much cheaper if they are at all like it seemed to be a few years ago. Being able to see them in person and take them home same day is also nice.

Amazon's listings are mess. Sometimes the listing are just skeevy looking and have missing or wrong information. Even when the listing looks good, I'm not always sure I'll get quite what I ordered. I've already started to basically not use 3rd party sellers, but even when Amazon is listed as the seller, I've gotten items that were clearly used(when they were supposed to be new) or just not the right item, once being a counterfeit of what I was ordering.

I also noticed that for "gravy" items like cables and stuff, where Amazon was often 3 or 4 times cheaper, Best Buy is at least not as bad as they were in the past. They've still got some very overpriced options, but they also have some more reasonably priced options. So now its a decision to spend $3 or $4 more on that HDMI cable at Best Buy when I get the TV rather than $15 more. The decision to to spend the couple more dollars at Best Buy for the cable isn't just convenience, but is bolstered by cheaper items on Amazon being even more of a crapshoot than they were in the past.

dropfrog2• 8 years ago

But that call-in "customer support" is a deal killer. I made an online purchase, a cheap antenna (thank goodness). It arrived in a box with my address taped on it but with customized shirts inside. Boxes were damaged during shipping and when put back together, someone got my stuff and I got theirs. UPS - "it's not on us, contact Best Buy". So I decided to use this to test Best Buy's customer support. I call. Foreign accent. I explain very carefully, slowly, in detail. She didn't listen to a thing I said. Started asking questions that did not pertain to the situation whatsoever. More explanation. 10 minutes in. 15 minutes. Finally she says, oh, I have a tracking number right here and your new shipment is on its way! I said, give me the tracking number, a little surprised she found the solution so suddenly. She read it off. It was the identical tracking number of the damaged box I had just received, and UPS showed it delivered to my house already of course (the one with the shirts inside). Anything to get me off the line. I called her bluff and said "That's the same tracking number as the box that was already delivered and had shirts inside". She said "Well, it's not our responsibility anyway." Me, "goodbye". Only $15 (and 20 minutes of time) to determine to what extent Best Buy cares about customer support, and to guide my purchasing decisions accordingly.

tjr• 8 years ago

So somewhere, perhaps, somebody who was expecting a box of customized shirts received a cheap antenna?

dropfrog2• 8 years ago

That's exactly what happened - makes me smile. And that someone also received their customized shirts (if all went as planned) because I noticed the shirts had a local company name imprinted. I gave the box with the shirts back to UPS, let them know what had gone down, and hopefully they took care of business.

twinkletwinkle• 8 years ago

Technically, there might have been N>2 parties involved in the switcheroo.

Someone expecting the antenna received shirts, someone expecting X received the antenna, someone expecting shirts received X, ....

ApolloFortyNine• 8 years ago

I've had similar issues with Verizon support reps. What I've started doing is if I get the feeling they're not helping, I just hang up and call again. At least with Verizon I'd say 50% of agents know what they're talking about, so usually that works.

I know this is a shitty solution (and to be honest, I've never had to do the same with Amazon) but it does help.

thaumaturgy• 8 years ago

I recently switched to T-Mobile from Verizon, because they were willing to straight up pay off the phone I bought a few months ago, whereas being a Verizon customer for a decade has given me basically no benefits whatsoever.

Anyway, there was a screwup with the reimbursement, and the one thing I'll give T-Mobile's customer service is that any time you contact them, they text a survey to you afterward, and if you express displeasure through the survey, man, they are all over that. You get a call back shortly after from someone in a department dedicated to fixing customer service issues.

I'm pretty sure it's the very first time that responding to one of those surveys wasn't a total waste of time. I really wish more companies handled it that way.

mieseratte3• 8 years ago

What I've started doing is if I get the feeling they're not helping, I just hang up and call again.

How much time do you end up waiting on hold?! Every time I had to deal with Verizon support it was a 30+ minute wait.

acdha3• 8 years ago

Call the executive office instead. I had to do that when they tried to charge an early termination fee a couple of years after the contract expired and while guy on the phone was quickly fixing that he casually mentioned that when the customer service rep seems like they don’t understand it’s usually that they aren’t allowed to do something AND can’t tell you this.

It sounded like the worst job in the world and it was unnerving how casually he described it as the natural order of things.

MichaelApproved3• 8 years ago

After reaching out to their customer service to try and resolve it, the next call should've been to you bank. You could've disputed the charges and gotten a refund pretty easily.

agumonkey• 8 years ago

A tiny side note, it used to be the same everywhere, but recently (I'm in Paris) businesses start to care about customer support. To the point they even advertise it quite visibly on commercials (all local tech support). There might be a change.

On that note, it's tiring to read your experience.. I had better help from minuscule ebay sellers somewhere in China..

Torn• 8 years ago

Conversely, Amazon customer support is world-class. I've had multiple instances of things arriving DoA, or breaking some months later, and every time I've hopped on the text chat Amazon has just shipped me a new one without asking for the old one back

gwbas1c2• 8 years ago

When I get someone like that, I just hang up on them and call right back. Usually the next person is better.

But really, as someone else pointed out, you should have charged back.

quest88• 8 years ago

I bought my camera at best buy and then took a free photography class, hosted by a best buy employee, the following weekend. It was great!

I've always enjoyed going to best buy and now that I'm an adult I've spent thousands of dollars there.

ocdtrekkie• 8 years ago

Best Buy often has competitively priced weekly sales that beat Amazon regularly and they'll price match the rest. Their free shipping offer is reasonable, and in store pickup and return offer a huge advantage Amazon can't match for near instant transactions at nationwide scale. (Arguably, same day shipping offers at Amazon are close, but those are only in a few localities.)

I'm not surprised they're doing okay, especially since a lot of their retail competitors in the electronics, appliance, and movie businesses have closed up shop. Physical retail will always have a certain draw, when the market for it is reducing, you just need to outlast your competitors.

floor_• 8 years ago

Best Buy sells things through Amazon. I just bought a tv through them.

3rdAccount4• 8 years ago

Funny enough, I just went into Best Buy prior to a long road trip. My phone is old and has no memory left and I wanted an mp3 player to listen to some podcasts as well as a splitter cable to listen to an audiobook with my wife. I found cheap, but high quality products pretty fast. I love Amazon, but sometimes you need something right now. I'll be sad when all brick and mortar stores are gone.

WhompingWindows• 8 years ago

If your item has a high price, something like a laptop or TV, it's in the best interest of the consumer to see it in person, compare it directly with other models, and potentially walk out with it then and there. The lower the price of the item, there will be proportionally higher % of total cost to the consumer in going out to a store, in terms of labor and time spent.

Do I need to spend 25 minutes going out to pick a new phone charger for $10? My time is valued more highly than that. But for a $800 TV, the % of costs in the time/effort slice become proportionally much less. It will take me slightly longer to pick a TV out, but still, an hour of my labor at $35 is not even 5% of an $800 dollar TV, whereas the time/labor for me to get the phone charger in person is going to be much closer to 50% of the total cost.

_JamesA_• 8 years ago

Fry's doesn't appear to be doing so well. The Austin store reduced it's product selection during a remodel a couple of years ago.

For a tech city Austin only has 1 Fry's and 1 Altex for serious electronic / computer stores.

I wish MicroCenter would open a location here.

tjr225• 8 years ago

Had a MicroCenter back in Kansas City...that is a FUN store to go to for geeks.

portaljester• 8 years ago

I was gifted a 25$ Best buy gift card, I thought I would never remember to use it. One day the lady is looking at makeup and I see a Best buy. I go in looking for a new mousepad. The place is full of washers and blenders etc. The only mouse pad they had was 60$ (extreme gaming blah blah). I ended up grabbing a Pink Floyd vinyl for 22$. I found it odd but if it works it works.

beenBoutIT2• 8 years ago

Buying someone a gift card is another way of telling them that you're a consumerist idiot who doesn't give a shit about them. "First and foremost, I don't care about you at all. That said, instead of giving you $20 in cash, I'm going to give that same $20 to BestBuy and force you to shop there or forgo my gift in its entirety, because I'm an imbecile." Intelligent people who don't give a shit about a person will always go cash.

ryneandal• 8 years ago

I'm truly glad I don't see the world in such drastic black and white. Sounds miserable.

ntoeu0nt• 8 years ago

What is Best Buy anymore? I recently bought a refrigerator there and it was a really bizarre experience. It seemed more like a small mall than a big box store. The appliances were in a section called "Appliances by Pacific Sales", where Pacific Sales is a chain of stores in LA. We actually bought our oven at Pacific Sales years earlier. Then they had the "Apple Store at Best Buy," next to the "Verizon Store at Best Buy." I couldn't really tell whether Best Buy was directly selling anything or not. It just seemed to be a collection of stores within the Best Buy store. It was like a small mall, but only with electronics and appliances. So odd.

duckarmada• 8 years ago

This is more common than you might expect. Another example: The electronics and games section at Target is staffed and run by a company called Marketsource.

heedlessly32• 8 years ago

Not sure what you're expecting. Did people forget what an electronics retailer is?

A retailer such as BestBuy never sold their own "BestBuy" branded electronics. Retailers have always been the middle-man between the electronics manufacturer and the consume, so that the electronics company doesn't need to rent or build their own stores. It's cheaper for BestBuy to not hire their own bestbuy salespeople. Instead Verizon and Apple hire their own knowledgeable staff and put them at Best Buy.

silveira• 8 years ago

Sometimes they have some good deals online. I buy and get in the store. In the store itself, it's kind of a mess. I went to buy an $80 item that I saw online but the price there was $100, had to talk to manager to get the price (price matching themselves?).

The thing that makes me usually go to Amazon or elsewhere compared to Best Buy is the return policy. Best Buy will give you only 15 days to do a return with refund. Many times 15 minutes is not enough to install the product, test it and go to the store to return it.

thomasec• 8 years ago

It's amazing how many things Best Buy is doing right that have largely gone unnoticed over the last few years. While still not perfect, they've done more than almost any other retailer I can think of to modernize the shopping experience, while leveraging their existing advantages:

* Local Inventory with Google Shopping - if I search for almost any product on Google, Best Buy is usually the only major retailer that shows me local inventory for that product. I can't believe how few major retailers do this. If I search for an external hard drive on Google, I can see right away if I'm able to go down the street and pick it up.

* In Store Pick Up - this is almost as seamless as picking up an order at the Apple Store. Just yesterday I placed an order for in-store pick up at my local Best Buy. 20 minutes later I received a confirmation email that my order was ready, and all I had to do was show my ID when I showed up to the store. No signing a receipt, or making sure I had the credit card I placed the order with. The whole process took less than 3 minutes, and I could even add additional name(s) of people who were authorized to pick it up for me.

* Open-box items - I know these can be hit or miss, but at least with Best Buy you can inspect open box items before deciding to take them home (as opposed to Amazon Warehouse, where you have to go through the process of shipping it back if it's not what you expected). They even have these "outlet items" highlighted on both their app and website, so I can see which Best Buys around me have a specific open box item I'm looking for.

* Geek Squad Protection - this isn't perfect, and it can be expensive, but it's nice to know that if something goes wrong with a large item (such as a TV or appliance), someone will actually come to my house to check it out. They are also very willing to give you a brand new replacement if the repair is going to be expensive or labor intensive. I know I probably sound like an old fogey, but dealing with factory warranties directly through the manufacturer is always such a pain, and they almost never offer a full replacement.

* Best Buy APP - their app is great! It keeps track of all of my orders, and even tells me when something I've bought has an open recall. I think Target is the only company that does a better job combing both the in-store and e-commerce aspects into a single app.

They've also IMO done a good job keeping the in-store experience consistent between locations. I'm sure there are still some locations that have less helpful employees, or less reliable inventory, but this is happening less often for me.

kfarr• 8 years ago

Yes I'd second the comment on local inventory control in general - unlike other box stores with "fuzzy" inventory listed online, Best Buy seems to have a very accurate representation of what is in each store. If I want an item now I have high confidence that when I go there it'll be there for me to pickup.

dzink• 8 years ago

They have become the showroom for new or high-margin tech like Oculus, Dyson, 7K refrigerators etc and they collect a hefty margin and shelf fees for the effort. They make more money B2B than B2C probably. On smaller stuff their markup is ridiculous ($40-50 for an iphone screen protector that you can buy in a different brand in a pack of 3 for $10 on amazon).

luddaite• 8 years ago

Over the last few months, I decided to try and reduce my Amazon.com shopping as much as possible. As a result, I have been doing my item finding on Amazon and then going out and buying the item at a brick and mortar. I find it to be an interesting reversal. It has also been pretty shocking to see how much money I save when I don't have a Prime account. It turns out that most things I want are things that I don't actually need.

let_var• 8 years ago

I have had good experience (on multiple occasions) when buying consumer electronic from the Best Buy. They do price matching, you get to experience the product, and the customer rep was really helpful.

I can't say the same about the snob at the Apple Store.

maxyme• 8 years ago

You have to keep in mind though their "price matching" is basically dependant on whatever manager is currently working. Ive had them outright refuse a match on Amazon because the margins for them were too thin, or even add in the cost of same day shipping to the "matched" price.

foxhop• 8 years ago

I went to Best Buy recently on a whim to try and _not_ by something from Amazon.

I had found a product on the Best Buy website, a $79 55-65 inch LCD/Plasma corner wall mount. So I drove to the store and looked for it. This was roughly 2 months after Christmas.

The store had about 300 units of a $199.99 version and 0 units of any thing the below $150...

I spent about 15 minutes looking for somebody to tell me what I already expected, they only carry the expensive one in store.

I bought the same brand (slightly different model number off Amazon.com [likely to prevent price matching]) while in the Best Buy for $69, shipped to my house.

It was $10 cheaper, I didn't need to leave my house, I didn't need to talk to anyone...

Best Buy completely lost my sale because they didn't have inventory and pushed a more expensive and way higher margin unit ...

I was so disappointed because I really, really tried to _not_ buy from Amazon.

It's no wonder Amazon is eating the world while only being mediocre... Retailers are simply botching any advantage they have (being local) for the last 15 years...

(disclosure: I worked for Sears Electronics department part time for about 3 years while going to college [sears no longer sells electronics like Televisions or radios])

NelsonMinar• 8 years ago

Don't forget, Best Buy's Geek Squad has been acting as an extension of the FBI for awhile. The FBI regularly pays Geek Squad employees to report on suspected illegal activity worth investigating further. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/03/geek-squads-relationsh...

rjohnk• 8 years ago

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.

AtlasBarfed• 8 years ago

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.

heedlessly32• 8 years ago

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

This is what the article is all about. They are leveraging their one advantage they have over Amazon.

Do you not realize that BestBuy does not actually make electronics?

dragonwriter• 8 years ago

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

So, it's now largely a convenient place known to consumers that serves to connect them to third-party sellers where originally it was entirely a direct retailer itself.

So, it’s like a bricks-and-mortar version of Amazon?

justjash• 8 years ago

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.

cpeterso• 8 years ago

Best Buy is nice because I like being able to actually handle and try the products I'm going to buy. Plus buying from a physical store supports the local economy with jobs and sales taxes.

weirdkid• 8 years ago

As long as you remember the first rule of Best Buy (never buy cables at Best Buy), you can find prices as good or better there than Amazon, and I have to say, the people there are very helpful and friendly. I especially liked their Magnolia store-within-a-store concept for higher-end audio products.

nishantvyas• 8 years ago

every-time I go nearby store it's mostly empty... (price/sq.ft. ratio)

I'm also not happy with their price match... I had a BB gift card so went there with Costco headphone deal to price match, which they did with shipping of 3 weeks from order day... If you'd have to guess it... yes... shipping after the Costco deal would expire... I wanted to give benefit of doubt but when they canceled my order after 3 weeks... it kind of felt like a trap...

crtasm• 8 years ago

The regular $150 8tb WD Easystore drive deal helped a bit I imagine!

Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

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