Best Buy Shows Us What Not To Do

Have you ever gone shopping at Best Buy? It is a terrific experience if you are prepared. It will frustrate you, infuriate you and demonstrate to you why I keep saying small business owners can successfully compete with the big box stores and sell for higher prices.

For example, can you imagine the damage done to their reputation when they took orders for electronic merchandise weeks in advance of Christmas, all intended as Christmas gifts and then never fulfilled the orders? Worse yet, they informed their waiting customers a few days in advance leaving them no time to recover with alternative buying strategies. How many customers can a store afford to lose permanently?

A small business would never allow this to happen, ever.

Then, there is the shopping experience. Frequently, they do not have what you want in stock. How frustrating. What is the point of going there if they do not have the lead items in stock that everyone wants?

Small business would never allow this to happen either.

Try asking a Best Buy salesperson anything at all. They know nothing about the merchandise they are selling and are no help at all.

Small business would never allow this to happen, ever.

Then there is the upsell, hawking insurance for the goods you are lucky enough to be able to purchase. They constantly want to sell you their movie plan, as clearly they are getting paid to do this as it is all that’s on their minds and all they will talk to you about.

Of course, the return policy is also brutal and unless you never opens the box at all before returning, you are unlikely to survive their inspection.

And this is your competition? Need I say more? Do you understand what you need to do to win?