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What changed to make Best Buy good and Circuit City bad??

redgtxdi

redgtxdi

Diamond Member
So forgive me cuz if I don't type this now, I'll forget so I'm not researching at all, but here goes......

Remember a few (several? time flies lately) years ago when Best Buy was almost out of business?? And then there were all these articles how Circuit City had survived the big yellow/blue monster due to their ability to run a smart/profitable business.


So what happened that CC died and BB is ok???

TIA
 
Having worked for CC for the last 2 years and recently laid off I might be able to give my insight..

//clears throat

THEY ARE RETARDED


 
CC had this deal where you could order stuff online for pickup at local store. Stuff was often cheaper online so CC took in less money on the sale and had double overhead (web+ B&M store). Good for me, bad for them.
 
Originally posted by: Kalmah
Having worked for CC for the last 2 years and recently laid off I might be able to give my insight..

//clears throat

THEY ARE RETARDED
Click to expand...

Approximately as retarded as those who shop at BB
 
I don't know exactly but a few key points to consider..

Starting Carmax. CC spent tons of money on Carmax when BB was keeping their act together.. Stores where becoming nicer while cc's where getting uglier

Ending commission sales. - Less motivated sales people

Firing all sales employees making over $10/hour (I was hired a month before this happened)

Hiring replacements at minimum wage

Spending shitloads of money on a new point of sales system that didn't work.

Changing 'product specialists' to 'product generalists'. Instead of being dedicated to an area, all sales associates had to learn the whole floor. Do you think I knew car audio? Hell no. Did I sell in there? Yes. I pissed more people off than anything though. I was just straight up and said "I don't know anything in here" They would ask if somebody did and I'd reply "nope, it's suppose to be me".. then customers lose trust in our knowledge and start shopping somewhere else. I refused to learn car audio because I didn't get a pay increase for having to do more work.

The thing is, their focus is on customer service while they continue to make decisions that make their sales associates worse.. kind of counter-intuitive isn't it?

Customers are number 1 priority, but then all of a sudden they decide sales associates cant have keys to open cages to help prevent internal theft.. which would mean internal theft > customer service. While they still said customers first..(irony?) sure I'll get that Ipod out.. just wait 5 minutes while I try to get a manager over here with a key.. an the next 20 customers can just wait while I go to find the manager.. they don't need help.. they aren't going to just leave because they have to wait several minutes longer per customer in front of them because I have to find a fucking key... no.. why would getting good customer service be important to them? wait..!! Wait.. but customer service is #1... WTF

Managers did not fullfill the role of manager.. hence the word 'manager'. Instead of leading, they barked orders. You have to be a leader before you can be an order-giver.. sorry.

Managers got bonuses when sales associates did good.. Sales associates got a "good, now do it again".

CC has merchandise that doesn't make profit.. those $300 laptops sell between 9%-15% below cost. It was my job to 'attach' to it so that profit is gained. Umm.. broke asses who are buying $300 laptops aren't buying it just because it is cheap.. they are broke asses.. they can't afford to buy a printer as well. So no attachments. multiply that by thousands of those below-cost laptops throughout the last couple years... it adds up. That's the same for all on-sale laptops.. they are below-cost. The only thing that makes money just from the sale are tvs pretty much. And they made customers jump through hoops to get price matches much of the time..

Very low employee morale.. VERY VERY low.. tons of reasons. Some companies hand out bonus on paychecks when budgets are made.. not at CC.. they say "do it again"..

There is more.. just cant think right now.



 
Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
I don't remember BB ever close to going out of business.
Click to expand...

It was quite a while ago and I want to say circa 2000, but simple googling isn't helping me find it. I just remember something about it having to do with Best Buy's financing. (not so ironically, I recall them asking for a "bailout" at the time and they were in the news about every day for a month or so).

Anyway, despite these huge yellow-tag buildings going in almost directly next door (which often happened in Los Angeles) to all the previously anchored CC stores, it was found that CC was actually in the black and doing quite well by comparison. I couldn't believe it. It was at the time when "bigger" was "better". Lowes vs. Home Depot..........Walmart vs. Kmart........etc.
 
This is just my theory. I have no evidence to back any of it up, but it seemed like CC kept trying to branch out into radical new "innovative" unprofitable endeavors, i.e. price matching, DIVX, Firedog, CC sponsored rebates (which killed them when combined with pricematching), 24/24 guarantee, 1 price guarantee, etc. While both lost money due to slow sales, Best Buy, for the most part, stuck to the meat and potatoes and didn't lose money on as many failed marketing attempts as CC.
 
Originally posted by: Kalmah
I don't know exactly but a few key points to consider..

Starting Carmax. CC spent tons of money on Carmax when BB was keeping their act together.. Stores where becoming nicer while cc's where getting uglier

Ending commission sales. - Less motivated sales people

Firing all sales employees making over $10/hour (I was hired a month before this happened)

Hiring replacements at minimum wage

Spending shitloads of money on a new point of sales system that didn't work.

Changing 'product specialists' to 'product generalists'. Instead of being dedicated to an area, all sales associates had to learn the whole floor. Do you think I knew car audio? Hell no. Did I sell in there? Yes. I pissed more people off than anything though. I was just straight up and said "I don't know anything in here" They would ask if somebody did and I'd reply "nope, it's suppose to be me".. then customers lose trust in our knowledge and start shopping somewhere else. I refused to learn car audio because I didn't get a pay increase for having to do more work.

The thing is, their focus is on customer service while they continue to make decisions that make their sales associates worse.. kind of counter-intuitive isn't it?

Customers are number 1 priority, but then all of a sudden they decide sales associates cant have keys to open cages to help prevent internal theft.. which would mean internal theft > customer service. While they still said customers first..(irony?) sure I'll get that Ipod out.. just wait 5 minutes while I try to get a manager over here with a key.. an the next 20 customers can just wait while I go to find the manager.. they don't need help.. they aren't going to just leave because they have to wait several minutes longer per customer in front of them because I have to find a fucking key... no.. why would getting good customer service be important to them? wait..!! Wait.. but customer service is #1... WTF

Managers did not fullfill the role of manager.. hence the word 'manager'. Instead of leading, they barked orders. You have to be a leader before you can be an order-giver.. sorry.

Managers got bonuses when sales associates did good.. Sales associates got a "good, now do it again".

CC has merchandise that doesn't make profit.. those $300 laptops sell between 9%-15% below cost. It was my job to 'attach' to it so that profit is gained. Umm.. broke asses who are buying $300 laptops aren't buying it just because it is cheap.. they are broke asses.. they can't afford to buy a printer as well. So no attachments. multiply that by thousands of those below-cost laptops throughout the last couple years... it adds up. That's the same for all on-sale laptops.. they are below-cost. The only thing that makes money just from the sale are tvs pretty much. And they made customers jump through hoops to get price matches much of the time..

Very low employee morale.. VERY VERY low.. tons of reasons. Some companies hand out bonus on paychecks when budgets are made.. not at CC.. they say "do it again"..

There is more.. just cant think right now.
Click to expand...

These all seem like very good reasons, but I'm wondering, doesn't BestBuy have some similarities here?
 
Circuit city felt like 2nd tier crap. I actually dislike BB but their presentation is much better and their stores more hip feeling. When i walk into a BB I actually get somewhat motivated to spend money. When I walked into Circuit City I felt like I was walking into a junkyard and couldnt wait to leave.
 
1) No more mail-in rebates to screw over the customer
2) Geek Squad -- sure they suck, but the general populous needs someone to fix their computers if they don't have a friend/relative around. CC was slow on the uptake with FireDog.
3) RewardZone -- I love this. No membership fee, and I earn points on what I buy, sometimes up to triple points. CC has no competing program AFAIK. I called Best Buy last week to report a missing transaction on my rewards account. The CSR found the purchase, and gave me 500 points ($10) for my troubles. That's customer service.
4) Best Buy stores look nicer, more high-tech. Circuit City stores remind me of a Radio Shack sized up 20 times.

I'm sure there are other little things as well, but that's what sticks out in my mind.
 
Circuit City wasted a shit-ton of money on remodeling.. They turned their store from a unique experience (one dark room for every different type of electronics.. want speakers? go listen to them loud in the speaker room, etc..) to a cookie-cutter Office Depot/Staples/OfficeMax experience..

 
For me I stopped shopping there when their customer service turned to sh!t. This happened right about when Kalmah mentioned above:

Ending commission sales. - Less motivated sales people

Firing all sales employees making over $10/hour (I was hired a month before this happened)

Hiring replacements at minimum wage
Click to expand...
 
I don't know...every time I've walked into CC, nobody would ever be around to take my money. They have these cash register islands and there was never anyone there...I'd walk around the store, couldn't find anyone, then would drop eveything and go to Best Buy down the street.

I've never had a problem with Best Buy in the last 16 years. They've always followed their rules, they've never given me a hassle, they've always honored any extended warranties I've bought, and they always have good prices. I'm able to filter their sales people out (hint: If you're looking at computer equpment, tell them you're an engineer for whatever brand you're looking at. They get intimidated and leave you alone 🙂 ). I like Best Buy, and I think they do a good job.
 
This article disagrees with the premise of the thread. Best buy is:
[*]At a 6-year stock price low.
[*]Has a credit rating just one notch above junk status.
[*]Cut it's full year outlook.
[*]Same store sales down 1.3% in Sept and ANOTHER 7.6% in October.

The real difference between Circuit City and Best Buy is that Circuit City is getting its bad news a few months earlier.

Originally posted by: Fritzo
I don't know...every time I've walked into CC, nobody would ever be around to take my money. They have these cash register islands and there was never anyone there...I'd walk around the store, couldn't find anyone, then would drop eveything and go to Best Buy down the street.
Click to expand...
Same here. That was until someone finally told me on my third visit that they NEVER staff those cash register islands. I am supposed to go to the returns line to make a purchase. It confused the hell out of me.
 
Circuit CIty has a bad business team...period. They were usually behind in keeping up with things to give them a business/startegic edge and they got rid of some departments instead of simply downsizing them. Now they are forced to downsize depts they cannot afford to downsize (software...cell phone providers).

I knew it was a bad thing when they opened in new store on the Boston outskirt. I walked in and my first thought was..."Dam...this store is a quarter of the size of Best Buy that is down the street".
 
Originally posted by: Fritzo
I don't know...every time I've walked into CC, nobody would ever be around to take my money. They have these cash register islands and there was never anyone there...I'd walk around the store, couldn't find anyone, then would drop eveything and go to Best Buy down the street.
Click to expand...

Exactly, I'm suprised CC lasted as long as they did. They're as bad as CompUSA who should of also gone OOB years ago.

BTW, BB has never been close to going out of business. And probably never will
 
they both suck, why pay taxes when you can get it online and cheaper and most of the time free shipping..

bb overall is better..

like post above, cc has those check out islands and no one is ever there
 
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