14 ms·

How Best Buy saved itself (2019)

248 points by prostoalex 6y ago

Fauntleroy 6y ago
These days one of the biggest value adds of buying from Best Buy (over Amazon) is that you know you won't be getting counterfeit products. My confidence buying consumer electronics from BB is far higher than from Amazon.
- miles 6y ago
  Who knew that Best Buy's USP was simply shipping the product you actually bought?
  - rectang 6y ago
    (For those like me who don't know the jargon: USP in this context seems to stand for "unique selling point".)
    - aspenmayer 6y ago
      Thank you. I’ve seen that for years and thought it was related to the USP used in vitamin labeling, and knew that wasn’t right, but assumed it was a kind of UL type thing. Wrong context entirely.
  - mlthoughts2018 6y ago
    This feels tongue in cheek but it’s legit. As you scale the operation of being low latency (2 day Prime shipping) globally distributed (Amazon distribution network) CDN (stuff in warehouses) to the size of Amazon, it becomes a legit hard problem to match the per product validation that smaller retailers can achieve by drastically reducing and centralizing their distribution method (chain stores, focus on only one niche category of products like consumer electronics or specific clothing brand).
    - dhosek 6y ago
      I think Amazon has reached the too big to succeed stage of its growth. Putting aside counterfeiting issues, just finding a product on Amazon can be a nightmare.
      - mlthoughts2018 6y ago
        You have to have great machine learning and information organization solutions to function at that scale and I think it’s where the seams really show on Amazon’s two pizza team approach and deeply fractured dogfooding approaches to rely on internal versions of their external ML consumer services.
    - erik_seaberg 6y ago
      The problem is that Amazon scaled by accepting sketchy merchandise from pseudonymous dropshippers who obviously aren't legit manufacturers. Retail customers shouldn't have to wonder where a product came from, that was the whole point of branding them.
      - mlthoughts2018 6y ago
        No, they got sketchy sellers after scaling (mostly as a bookseller).
  - paulmd 6y ago
    best buy has real problems with fraud too, on r/datahoarder you can read on an almost daily basis about people finding drives that have had the original (expensive) drive removed, replaced with some crappy 500GB drive, and repackaged.
- afterburner 6y ago
  Er, unless you buy from a third party on the Best Buy website? Which is a thing I was disappointed to find out they started doing a while ago.
- wsatb 6y ago
  Their shipping is also quite fast. At the beginning of the stay-at-home orders when Amazon was really struggling, I had couple of things delivered next day for free. It likely has to do with where you're at, but I was surprised because I had not ordered anything from Best Buy in ages when it would take anywhere from 5-14 days.
- mey 6y ago
  I tend to use other retailers for electronics, but this alone has driven me away from Amazon.
- justhw 6y ago
  Exactly. It was years ago that I last stepped foot in a Best Buy but just in 2020 alone I've been 5 times already. If my purchase is electronics and above $50, I check Best Buy first for local pickup, then B&H Photo and amazon last.
- mrb 6y ago
  I spend $10k/year on Amazon. The only counterfeit product I've gotten? A crêpe spatula that was flimsy and clearly not like the product pictures. Am I lucky or are you guys not able to detect suspicious product listings/sellers? I see them sometimes. They are easy to avoid.
  - tjr225 6y ago
    > Am I lucky or are you guys not able to detect suspicious product listings/sellers? I see them sometimes. They are easy to avoid. Perhaps the posters you are replying to are simply choosing to buy from places where they don’t have to spend the mental energy to do this. It seems kind of absurd to me(and I’m not trying to be negative towards you- I sparingly shop on Amazon due to its convenience) that a retailer can convince their buyers that this is normal.
  - Swizec 6y ago
    > Am I lucky or are you guys not able to detect suspicious product listings/sellers? I see them sometimes. They are easy to avoid. This is a skill that shouldn’t be required on Amazon. You don’t walk into a supermarket carefully inspecting every item to make sure it isn’t shady. You expect the supermarket to do that for you. Shopping on amazon often feels like buying wares from a rolled out blanket on the sidewalk in comparison.
  - shard 6y ago
    I thought part of the problem was the commingling of stock, so that even if the seller seems legit, the product you receive could be from a counterfeit seller?
  - felipemnoa 6y ago
    >> I see them sometimes. They are easy to avoid. I think the point is that they shouldn't be there in the first place.
  - antjanus 6y ago
    There are certain items that are more susceptible: - kids toys - any kind of supplements/protein powder/etc. - cheaper electronics/cables/etc.
- brianwawok 6y ago
  So I hear this line over and over in Hacker News. Do people really have that many authenticity issues? I average well into 5 figures a year on Amazon stuff. Have been for years. Have never had an authenticity issue. I buy sold by Amazon and 3rd party. Name brand and white label. Electronics and home goods. I’m just not getting it?
  - hprotagonist 6y ago
    After one especially dangerous purchase from a Fulfilled By Amazon seller, I will no longer buy bicycle components on amazon. Nothing happened after i reported it, either.
    - ardy42 6y ago
      > Nothing happened after i reported it, either. That's what's so infuriating about Amazon. Amazon should proactively police their store for counterfeits, but they don't. To add insult to injury, they won't even respond in a timely manner to reports of physically and economically impossible counterfeit items that are sold as part of a well known type of fraud [1]. [1] IIRC, I reported some "2TB" microsd cards selling for $10 a few years back, and the listings remained up for weeks. Had the same experience reporting price-gouging on N95 masks and hand sanitizer early in the pandemic, too.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - acrispino 6y ago
    I've received counterfeits of items worth as little as $15, fulfilled by Amazon.
  - throwaway0a5e 6y ago
    I don't go into the five figures but I haven't had any issues. Or at least nobody who buys through my account has reported any. Pretty much none of it is high margin consumer stuff though. Kinda hard to fake plumbing fittings and fasteners without doing pretty much all the work it takes to do it right in the first place.
- kstrauser 6y ago
  The ironic part of that for me is that Best Buy where I grew up had a terrible reputation for selling returned stuff as new, sometimes shoved into the wrong re-heatshrunk box. I'm glad someone's doing well against Amazon, but I'm utterly surprised that Best Buy is the one that came out smelling like a rose.
  - bitexploder 6y ago
    And it’s all a bunch of low quality drek. And I dread buying name brand products. I have had to send back numerous 100-300 items back to amazon because they sent me obviously opened and damaged items or a counterfeit item. About 1/10 things I bought were garbage and not the right thing. This year I have seriously considered canceling Amazon prime.
    - kstrauser 6y ago
      I’m not sure what’s going on with your orders. I’ve had a few Amazon misadventures, but they’re pretty far between. Pro tip: don’t buy the absolute cheapest version of a thing. If you’re looking for FooCorp’s Widgetmaster and most listings are for $75, don’t pick the $60 one.
      - neltnerb 6y ago
        But you have to go out of your way to do that, which means it will not be done by any meaningful number of people, which means that Amazon sees a benefit in it being as it is. Or else at least doesn't see enough benefit in fixing it. They may have the statistics to prove it, I still order from them and I have definitely gotten counterfeit goods but they've also consistently refunded my order when it gets messed up. Maybe they figure that the cost of fixing it is higher than the cost of replacing the item for the fraction of customers that notice.
      - bitexploder 6y ago
        I avoid third party sellers. Most of the items are sold by Amazon themselves. They have serious problems. I think it depends on what you are buying and how unlucky you are.
- grej 6y ago
  Exactly. I always buy electronic goods from BestBuy or Newegg for this reason, as soon as it became clear Amazon really doesn’t care that much about guarding against the counterfeiters
- justaguy88 6y ago
  I feel like they need to advertise it on the front door. "Our big online competitor is known for shipping counterfeits"
  - felipemnoa 6y ago
    Something tells me that they would get sued.
    - Kaibeezy 6y ago
      Concur. Safer to imply it by saying: “WE are known for NOT selling counterfeits.”
    - ceejayoz 6y ago
      Truth is an affirmative defense to libel.
      - kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
        Can you libel a party without ever naming them?
        ceejayoz 6y ago
        Yes. “My opponent is a pedophile” in a political race would still be libel. (Well, if untrue.)
- grej 6y ago
  This. I always buy electronic goods from BestBuy or Newegg for this reason, as soon as it became clear Amazon really doesn’t care that much about guarding against the counterfeiters
  - mikelward 6y ago
    Have you ever tried to return anything to Newegg? I just tried to return something. They wouldn't honor their returns policy. There are a lot of similar complaints.
    - whoopdedo 6y ago
      And since the last ownership shuffle they've been emphasizing their version of 3rd-party marketplace and reducing the number of items they sell directly. One advantage I think they still have is slightly more informative reviews. Plus many vendors will monitor NewEgg for negative reviews and reach out to the customer to resolve the issue. That happens on Amazon too, but they aren't as transparent as when a review gets upgraded. Where on NewEgg you can see the vendor's reply.
      - coldpie 6y ago
        Yeah. I used to be all-Newegg for tech stuff, but the 3rd party marketplace made them no better than Amazon, so I quit bothering going to Newegg. Honestly, Best Buy is my first choice for tech stuff today, although their selection is more limited so I don't always buy from them.
- jimmaswell 6y ago
  I wanted a USB SATA reader in a hurry recently. Only thing Best Buy had was some odd looking $40 thing (might have been on a small sale) that came with a CD. The fancy one I got a while ago on Amazon was <$20 that had a power input for drives that needed it. The comparable one without that? $8. Five times cheaper. There's just no competition for price besides Wal Mart usually being pretty good and that's why I always go to Amazon first if it's something Wal Mart wouldn't have. Maybe I've had counterfeits but if so they were good enough I didn't notice. The problem seems extremely overblown, as someone who does a very high percentage of their shopping there.
  - factotvm 6y ago
    Did you read in the article the part about Best Buy matching prices? That seems to undercut your assertion that price is a differentiator.
    - kevinmgranger 6y ago
      Only for the exact same item, no? They were almost certainly different brands.
      - AnthonyMouse 6y ago
        They've also started doing a thing where they have the manufacturer produce a different part number specifically for their store. Then even though it's the exact same item, they claim it isn't.
        giancarlostoro 6y ago
        That sounds really wrong to me and dependant on the store itself. My local BestBuy stores would price match it. Hell I have asked a manager to lower the cost on a open box product that was their display machine. Saved me $150 if I remember correctly.
        sukilot 6y ago
        Started? That's older than the average HN user.
- rietta 6y ago
  Extremely true. I have a Best Buy 2 miles from my house. I pretty much just use them for everything electronic that is mass market now. For boards and things MicroCenter. Won't buy from Amazon. Don't trust them at all to ship legitimate product.
- elandrum 6y ago
  Same with Target. I’ve switched nearly all of my household buying over to Target because they have an awesome app, good shipping, and no counterfeits.
  - chaostheory 6y ago
    I used to feel the same about Target until my SO mentioned that they have a 3rd party marketplace now. Is that true? I didn't bother to check yet
    - sukilot 6y ago
      Yes and it's got the same counterfeits and totally fake garbage from the same sellers who sell on Amazon, Walmart, and Newegg.
    - cvhashim 6y ago
      Apparently its a curated list at the moment and invite only for 3rd party sellers. https://digiday.com/marketing/target-third-party-marketplace-sellers/ https://digiday.com/marketing/target-third-party-marketplace...
      - chaostheory 6y ago
        I forget the specifics, but we've already seen some recent garbage listings on Target. This was a mistake.
- supernova87a 6y ago
  Well, maybe I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum. I worry that at Best Buy, I'm going to: 1) pay more than I should, 2) be buying someone's returned/opened merchandise that they just put back on the shelf, and 3) hassled if I discover it and try to return it.
  - gdulli 6y ago
    Best Buy price matches Amazon: "We match local retail competitors (including their online prices) and these qualifying online retailers: Amazon.com, Crutchfield.com, Dell.com, HP.com and TigerDirect.com."
  - ziml77 6y ago
    I've never had trouble with their returns. The most painful part has been waiting in line at the returns counter.
    - owenversteeg 6y ago
      Yep, Best Buy has a customer for life in me because one time they replaced a nice laptop that was clearly outside the warranty. I was shocked and said it shouldn't be covered but the returns guy insisted. Whenever Best Buy comes up in conversation I mention my experience: the free PR they've gotten from that one return they gave me is probably half their total revenue by now :)
- iphone_elegance 6y ago
  I've been buying most of my non-apple hardware from them lately, nice delivery speed, easy return process (stores are everywhere) and mostly no third party sellers so far so good
- monadic2 6y ago
  Maybe online, but I don’t see many products at best buy worth counterfeiting. Do you have an example?
  - toast0 6y ago
    I've certainly heard of counterfeit computer mice. Counterfeit movies, cds, and video games is easy to imagine. Headphones. Apple accessories.
- entropea 6y ago
  I bought my entire new 2020 gaming computer in individual parts, in person across 2-3 Best Buys in my area, except for the high end fans I wanted which came from Newegg. They're expanding what they carry, price match online, I get it immediately, and I know it's not counterfeit or a shady return they're selling me. Pretty sad Frys seems to (maybe) be going under. Especially since they'd price match. I heard they're having problems with suppliers and are still trying to stay open, but a visit to the store really looks hopeless for it's future.
- soganess 6y ago
  I also prefer buying best buy used over amazon "warehouse" used. Its way more likely the best buy used product is recently returned and in decent working order. I've got nothing but horror stories recently from amazon warehouse.
exabrial 6y ago
Click bait headline that was actually quite enjoyable to read.
- AceJohnny2 6y ago
  clickbait is the logical endpoint of ad-based business models. Ad-based business models are the logical endpoint of an ad-dominated landscape. See: people complaining about paywalls.
  - mindvirus 6y ago
    Way off topic at this point, but mobile game ads are an amazing study of this. They're ads for totally made up gameplay - not just CG, but like a totally different game made just for the ad. And it makes sense that the things that would drive installs and clicks doesn't have anything to do with the game itself - I'm sure that was discovered just through random A/B testing (as I'm sure this headline was).
WalterBright 6y ago
An effective counterpoint to the charge that Amazon is an unstoppable monopoly.
- hinkley 6y ago
  Best Buy has hardly any competitors. The next closest thing we have to an electronics store is a Microsoft/Apple/Sony store. Best Buy has partnerships with two of those, and I don't think I've seen more than 1 of the other. Most other places you can buy electronics also sell milk, sweaters, or both.
  - organsnyder 6y ago
    Target has a decent electronics section (nothing like a dedicated big-box store, of course).
    - hinkley 6y ago
      Yeah Target is perhaps the least bad among the 'milk and sweaters' crowd. It seems like it's mostly there for impulse buys and/or video games.
- kevincox 6y ago
  I don't see how amazon is a monopoly. Sure, it has huge value due to the breadth of products and the number of consumers. But each consumer can shop at a different (or multiple) other stores and each seller can sell at multiple stores. No one is really locked in. Everyone is there because it is popular and good enough. The only real "monopolistic" piece is the economy of scale. I almost never need to pay shipping on amazon because I can bundle multiple, even unrelated, items together. This potentially lowers their shipping cost and is one of the few things that would make be buy something from Amazon instead of a different retailer outside of convenience, price or security.
- ilaksh 6y ago
  Its more like they are both virtual monopolies in two different but overlapping markets. The issue with Amazon is that they own the marketplace that they deliver on. The reason we go there is because it's the biggest market. The solution is public distributed protocols to create public markets where you don't have to compete against the owner of the market.
superwayne 6y ago
Maybe change title to "Best Buy used a combination of corporate strategy and emotional intelligence to save itself from ruin" (from the subtitle).
- warent 6y ago
  Good suggestion. Current title is really bad clickbait that does it no justice
finaliteration 6y ago
I've commented here a few times that Best Buy really has turned itself around and now offers a great shopping experience. I have a location nearby and every time I go in to buy something the employees are super helpful and knowledgeable. They also have a decent selection and can usually have a pickup item ready in less than an hour. Additionally, they will price match with Amazon on most things. I'll choose them over Amazon any time if they have the item that I need (which they typically do).
- scarface74 6y ago
  I can’t imagine anything that I would want from Best Buy where I would need to ask an employee anything besides “do you have it in stock.”
  - finaliteration 6y ago
    A couple of examples: - I bought an Apple Watch through them that was the cellular version. There was some activation error with the carrier when we tried to set it up, and rather than the employee I was working with shrugging it off and saying, “Sorry, you have to call the carrier”, they handled it all for me and got it fixed before I left the store. - I bought a Logitech mouse. It was having issues with the cursor stuttering. I went to return it, they went though the process in store of updating the firmware to make sure it was a hardware issue, and then they gave me a full refund and recommended another mouse (which I still have and love).
- 0d9eooo 6y ago
  I feel odd being so gushing about Best Buy, because for the longest time I really didn't have the most positive impression of them at all, but I'm not exaggerating when I say that over the last few years, I've had the best customer service experience from them that I've had anywhere in any store of any sort. It's really phenomenal, like enough to make me make a point of purchasing things there when I have the option. I don't even know where to begin, but I feel like they've been super attentive and genuinely helpful without dumbing things down. Whether that's worth it or not to any given person is a personal thing but I was really surprised by it.
gkoberger 6y ago
This feels like a bit of a puff piece to me. Nothing in here felt "brilliant" to me. In fact, I'd argue Frys or Radio Shack did everything on this list better. That being said, I do often prefer Best Buy to Amazon for tech things, for the same reason I prefer clothing stores to online shopping. For something that expensive and personal, I want to see it in person. I want to see if it'll fit (whatever that means... from sizing to the types of plugs, etc), see compatible products, etc. I do love is how accurate their website is. It's usually right, and I'd love if more stores had an online way to see if something was in stock before I went all the way there. In my experience, Best Buy is the one that gets it right the most.
- ketzo 6y ago
  Honestly, the In-Home Advisor thing is pretty unique to me, particularly the “be comfortable not closing a sale” quote — that seems pretty cool for the company that’s known for Geek Squad
- ocdtrekkie 6y ago
  On top of that, it costs nothing to hold that item that's in stock for pickup, and during the worst of COVID you could not only curbside pickup stuff you put on hold, but arbitrary things not ordered in advance too.
  - copperx 6y ago
    What do you mean by the "worst of COVID"? According to all stats, it has been getting worse, not better. Unless you're talking about NYC.
    - ocdtrekkie 6y ago
      Fair. Worst of COVID so far, in my area. When everything was shut down. Most business is open again here, with precautions. But with the school year coming, I certainly think another shutdown is possible.
- m463 6y ago
zzapplezz 6y ago
Interesting perspective of a retailer that invested in its employees and found success. It's sad to see employee benefits and loyalty and an all-time low across society when just a generation ago it was so strong.
causality0 6y ago
So, he used that practice to his advantage--by instituting a price matching system. More like he used a price-matching program to swindle people. Suppose you want a 512GB microsd card. You've heard through their ads Best Buy will match Amazon's prices, so you depart your house with cash in hand, happy you won't have to wait for shipping. You walk into Best Buy, pick a Sandisk drive off the shelf, and show the cashier that despite Best Buy listing it at $150, Amazon only charges $100, so please match their price. Sorry says the cashier, this Sandisk 512GB U-3 V30 A2 Class 10 microsd card is model SDSQXBZ-512G-ANCMA, while the Sandisk 512GB U-3 V30 A2 Class 10 card on Amazon is model number SDSQXA1-512G-GN6MA so we can't price match. Price matching means absolutely nothing when every single one of Best Buy's overpriced products has its own special model number that prevents them from ever having to price match anything.
- brianwawok 6y ago
  Video games aren’t like this.
  - frenchie14 6y ago
    Funny you mention that. I tried to buy FF7R a few weeks back at Target and have them price match Walmart for $10 off. Walmart had two listings - FF7R at $60 and FF7R with a bonus "art card" tucked into the cover for $50. If you search FF7R on their site the $50 one pops up. When Target goes to price match, they see the $60 one. A clever trick by Walmart to offer something on sale without allowing people to price match it - the opposite application of the same trick being discussed in this thread.
- brandnewlow 6y ago
  Appliance companies explicitly do this for this exact reason too.
- op00to 6y ago
  They do this on appliances as well. I did get them to pricematch anyway, basically by being annoying. It wasn't really worth the discount.
- 6y ago
donor20 6y ago
I just got tired of the FAKE apple product on Amazon - no matter how many times it said genuine it never seemed to be actually genuine. So I started buying more from apple directly, and other tech products from best buy etc. Best buy is in a space that has so much fake garbage on Amazon it is astounding. USB 3.x (lie), xxWh (lie) and on and on. I actually don't understand how amazon's systems can be SO bad at weeding out the scammers. Even more annoying, when you go to return something they do things like say - keep it (the junk) and here is your money back. Can't complain about the customer service but feels so wasteful.
- beamatronic 6y ago
  There’s a lot of good reasons to buy genuine Apple things only from Apple. If you have the Apple card you get 3% off. If you buy a pricey item you can get 24 months financing with no interest.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
anirudhgarg 6y ago
I wish Barnes and Nobles also did price match with Amazon
- dhosek 6y ago
  The problem is that Amazon treats books as a loss leader. Books are a somewhat unique business in general in that you have a huge number of products and thin inventory of most of them (most books at a bookstore will have 1–2 copies in stock with only a few dozen titles with larger inventories). To sell at Amazon discounts would mean in many cases losing money given that bookstores typically pay 60% of the cover price of the book. I did a quick check and saw that Amazon is claiming a 51% discount on The Art of Racing in the Rain although I notice that there are two paperback editions of the book with the same cover available at my local indie, one a trade paperback, the other mass market paperback (the difference is the latter is printed on smaller-sized pages) and the latter has a list price of $9.99. Interestingly, the latter edition, doing a search by ISBN shows up at the same price as the TPB which is—interesting and makes me wonder if they're doing inventory commingling with these two editions. I'd recommend Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption for a (somewhat dated) look at the unique economics of bookselling. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226525910/donhosek http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226525910/donhosek
- lsllc 6y ago
  As a former B&N junkie (used to go there several times a week), for me at least the issue was stock. As Amazon encroached on B&N's business they made the unfortunate and classic mistake of trying to reduce costs, which generally meant keeping less stuff in stock. So now you want say "The Rust Programming Language" book and you want it now? The local B&N doesn't have it, nor do any nearby stores. They can ship to you or ship to store within a few days, or you can just get it on Amazon Prime. Of course this is a hard problem to solve, they clearly can't have every book you'd want in your local store. But they could have regional warehouses with more stock and either same/next-day to store or even DoorDash type same/next day local delivery. Ultimately, I think B&N were out matched by the Amazon juggernaut. Shame really, as going to B&N on the way home from dinner at a restaurant was a nice thing to do (wow, remember when you could go out to dinner?).
fermienrico 6y ago
Am I the only one who absolutely hates advisors? I don't need advice for electronics. I can do my own research. May be this is not a common thing for avg Joe? I always found the people at Bestbuy or any big stores are actually less knowledgeable than what I already know. I think this goes along with anything I want to purchase. If I am in the Hermes store to buy a $700 scarf, I don't want their "advisors" to influence my decision. Not that I would go to the Hermes store, but just making a point :)
- asperous 6y ago
  For some people, advisors are critical and under appreciated. Lots of people wouldn't know the difference between a hdmi cord and an ethernet cord. The article mentions that they have toned it down "Be comfortable not to make a sale." No one has ever liked sales tactics but they do work, however Best Buy is willing to give up some sales for the overall brand I think.
- variaga 6y ago
  No, you're not the only one. I cringe every time I even think about going to BestBuy, because I find their "customer service" actively unpleasant. Pretty much the only time I ever go to BestBuy is when (a) I need a specific thing that they sell and (b) I want it right now. I do not need or want your "advisor" following me around the store, suggesting that Monster _Ethernet_ cables will improve my sound quality, trying to up-sell me the extended warranty and explaining why a 1-bit DAC is Good, Actually. I liked Fry's (until it got _very_ depressing. Clearly Fry's is dying.) because -in addition to selection & prices- at Fry's I could actually browse and look at stuff _without_ feeling pressured by the sales staff.
tchock23 6y ago
Best Buy has the best curbside pickup program that I've experienced from any big box retailer. They became my "go to" place for buying anything electronic during the lockdown. I just hope that experience continues to be solid now that their retail locations are open again...
- ianhorn 6y ago
  Curbside has been really excellent. I buy a thing online and less than half an hour later I'm back at home with the device. Makes me realize how much of my amazon shopping was because of the fast delivery.
- FactCore 6y ago
  I bought a laptop from Best Buy recently, and the limited amount of contact was great. Just pressed a button on my phone when I arrived, confirmed with the employee that the order was in-fact mine, and he put in my trunk without even getting close to me!
  - scarface74 6y ago
    And then you end up with Best Buy crapware on your computer and usually they have worse specs. I have never seen as many 14 and 15 inch laptop screens with less than 1080p in my life.
    - FactCore 6y ago
      I actually just used Best Buy as a vendor. I found the laptop elsewhere and it was the only place it was available (coronavirus shortages). It doesn't have any bloatware other than from OEM itself.
- JamesSwift 6y ago
  Yep, I was really impressed with the process. I _really_ hope it sticks around after the pandemic.
jedimastert 6y ago
The current title is "Amazon Almost Killed Best Buy. Then, Best Buy Did Something Completely Brilliant". There's a subreddit called "saved you a click" where they basically answer click-bait-y titles with the answer in the title. For instance, the title could be > Amazon Almost Killed Best Buy. Then, Best Buy Did Something Completely Brilliant | They treated employees better, started price matching, and made home visits Of course, if the article is written well enough, you should read it anyways, but it always feels cheap to just pose a question in the title that could be answered in one sentence.
- just-ok 6y ago
  Thanks for saving me a click. :)
- btown 6y ago
  Clickbait headlines and articles-that-should-be-a-sentence often go hand in hand... but you can have the former without the latter. IMO this is an article worth reading. There actually isn't much filler here - every paragraph has a relevant statistic or describes a part of the business model changes, and it appears that Best Buy's success was due to "life by a thousand wins" rather than "death by a thousand cuts" - each of which is enumerated and described concisely in the article. But YMMV.
bitwize 6y ago
We know that law enforcement agencies have been deputizing the Geek Squad to search people's hard disks. Are Best Buy In-Home Advisors going to be deputized to search people's homes? I don't want to "build a relationship" with a national retail chain. Just take my money and give me the widget.
p1mrx 6y ago
Best Buy was probably saved by states enforcing sales tax on Amazon and similar online retailers. Even price matching doesn't work when your competitor has a 5-10% advantage.
- specialist 6y ago
  Yup. Why doesn't Walmart complain every day that Amazon's a better tax cheat? Mutually assured destruction? The Land of the Giants podcast series also touches on Amazon's financing, capitalization. Amazon's core innovations are, in order, 1) tax avoidance, 2) profits avoidance, and 3) treating knowledge workers as an inexhaustible resource to burn thru.
lifeisstillgood 6y ago
tl;dr - a new CEO actually listened to employees and eve gave them back a discount program, embraced "show rooming" by price matching Amazon and (the vaguer part) builde relationships with customers. But we on HN think the biggest problem Amazon has is fake goods, not Best Buy
rietta 6y ago
Another massive halo for Best Buy in my opinion is their eWaste recycling program. Who else lets you take old gear, even big things like printers, and drop off to be responsibly recycled. It is crazy convenient and gives me a reason to shop there. Our store has shut down this due to COVID but I am looking forward to being able to recycle some more outdated IT gear when they resume. My dad has more eWaste staged in his basement to recycle as well.
- alexpotato 6y ago
  I would argue this is another genius move on BB's part. Who better to buy new electronics than someone who has: - clearly bought electronics in the past - is knowledgeable about e-waste recycling (guessing there is a strong correlation between this and disposable income) - is now inside your store because you have an e-waste recycling program This by itself would be a brilliant move.
danso 6y ago
I use Amazon to check for a variety of reviews and comparison data. Then I see if my local Best Buy has it in stock and at a comparable price. I haven’t really had many nightmare Amazon scenarios, but Best Buy’s logistics/distribution feels “safer”, or at least equally safe. I also haven’t had issues with Amazon’s returns, but have also had no issue with big ticket returns like TVs with Best Buy (I don’t think I’d buy a TV on Amazon). Mostly, the few recent times I’ve been at Best Buy have been a pleasure (not quite Apple Store, but good enough) and the in-person experience a real value-add, that the positive vibe carries to my online shopping habits
factchecker01 6y ago
This is a 1 year plus old article
Havoc 6y ago
That title is cringe-worthy. Might as well have called it "Amazon hates this one simple trick"
dimator 6y ago
I wish Barnes and Nobles would find a strategy to combat Amazon competition. When I walk into a BN, it feels just like how Best Buy felt when it really seemed doomed (about a decade ago). BN is the only bookstore in many American cities, especially more rural ones, and I fear for a future in which the physical book buying experience is lost.
llsf 6y ago
Beside the click-bait title, it reflects an interesting feat. The turnaround of an electronic store in US where Amazon and Walmart are grabbing more and more market shares. I am glad that Best Buy found a more profitable path. I also bought my TV and replaced my microwave at Best Buy. The price was matching Amazon and I could see the products, and get them home. Employees were friendly and helpful. It was a nice experience.
bsanr2 6y ago
>and workers seem happier than ever. My entire cohort from when I arrived in late 2017 is gone from my home store, including people who were there before me. For sales and ops, at least, the wave that brought BB its renewed reputation ended around early 2019. A lot of the incentives disappeared, and pay just didn't keep in step with workload or need. I invite anyone confused about how workers really feel to head over to the Best Buy subreddit. They got rocked, hard, by the shutdown policies, and I'm personally glad I was separated when I was. Edit: Also, I didn't realize that this article was more than a year old. Joly is gone. Corie Barry, the former CFO, replaced him last winter.
rootusrootus 6y ago
This article is very believable. These are basically the things I noticed about our local Best Buy. First, the associates got less pushy and more personable. And second, they'll price match Amazon. It's not really fair that they must compete with Amazon, they should cost a little more for the showrooming privilege, but I can totally see how that was the only real answer. Now I buy things from them that I would otherwise wait two days to get from Amazon. Also, Amazon is making it more appealing since their own product quality is in the tank. I've said it before, I'll say it again, if Amazon doesn't figure out how to have a "Ships from and Sold By Amazon" option that guarantees no counterfeits, and no intermixing with 3rd party products, they're going to steadily lose customers. And once you lose the trust of those customers, good luck earning it back easily.
sickcodebruh 6y ago
I worked at Best Buy #583 in Mt Laurel, NJ from 2001 or 2002 or until 2003 Or 2004, from age 17 until 20, I think. I started working in their PC repair area when it was still “Best Buy services,” black shirts instead of blue, a few years before the Geek Squad thing happened, and left a couple years after that transition. I went in to interview for the PC sales department, the manager thought I’d be better fixing computers, and it was the start of my whole career in technology. Even back then, I remember a lot of their corporate-produced video content played at quarterly meetings would talk about the value in reinvention. They were very aware that companies that didn’t adapt to the market were doomed, they’d reference old department stores for comparisons. It’s not surprising that even though they stumbled for a few years, they still managed to turn it around. I remember being very aware of the high production value of those same quarterly videos. They looked so expensive and were occasionally funnier than they had any right being. It stood out because we all felt under paid and under valued, we’d talk about how much those videos must have cost and how much we all could have used some help. A few times a year, I still have anxiety nightmares where I’m late for a shift or I show up and there’s a line out the door and nobody to help me. Or there will be miles of racks of computers that need virus scans run and I have to do all of them before I go home. It was the most stressful job I’ve ever had, possibly the most stressful job I’ll ever have. It taught me more about troubleshoot software and dealing with angry people than I ever could have predicted. Simultaneously one of the worst experiences and a crucial one. Funny how that works.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- CalRobert 6y ago
  I worked at Best Buy in San Luis Obispo around 2003 and it was clear that if you didn't sell enough warranties, $29 USB cables (wholesale cost about 80 cents), and (bafflingly) subscriptions to Entertainment Weekly you would get your hours cut to effectively 0. I got chewed out and nearly fired by my boss because a customer came in with a broken lens for their camera they'd just bought, and I told them a replacement was about $99 when _instead_ I should have apparently told them a warranty could be bought retroactively for $199 and that would replace the lens (this was a bald-faced lie, it had clearly been dropped). Of course, consumers should expect that because Best Buy is blatantly evil, but the scummiest thing was that customers would walk in with a printout FROM BESTBUY.COM showing an item was $129, demand we match their own website instead of charging $149, and they'd be walked over to a kiosk showing that the product at bestbuy.com was $149. (They had a mock bestbuy.com running on the kiosk that looked like the web version but with in-store prices). Remember smartphones weren't a thing at that point. https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus23dec23-column.html https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus23dec23-column... It was valuable as a reminder of just how bad most jobs are, and that most people in America are treated like absolute shit by psychopath bosses who themselves live in fear of their boss, and so on. It certainly was a motivator to learn to code. Quitting the Wednesday before Black Friday was a thrill. It's supremely depressing Best Buy still exists.
josefresco 6y ago
"fixed broken systems, like an internal search engine that gave bad data about which products were in stock;" My Dad bought a TV at Best Buy several days ago. He looked for the model he wanted, couldn't find it. Went to the front desk and asked, they looked it up and sure enough it wasn't in stock. My Dad walks to the back of the store, finds the exact TV model he wanted with no assistance from any 'blue shirt'. Sounds like they still have some work to do lol
aka1234 6y ago
I wonder how much of Best Buy's success can be attributed to using 'emotional intelligence' to 'build relationships' with gullible people and sell $1,000+ HDMI cables to them. Does it happen a lot? Probably not. But selling one of those a week will likely pay for at least one salesperson's wage for that week. I haven't shopped for myself at a Best Buy and years (and the last time I did, it was for CD/DVDs). And the salespeople trying to 'build relationships' with me are just awful. But that's likely because I'm a misanthrope. I know what I'm getting into when I go to Best Buy. I'm going to go help a friend buy an overpriced laptop because they want my help since I'm an 'IT guy' and they want to shop at Best Buy for some reason.
- Gamon 6y ago
  Best Buy employees don't get commission. When I worked there 5 years ago, management encouraged us to add services to bulk up numbers, but employees never really cared because it never comes back to hurt them if they don't. For those cables, I doubt you could find an employee that would recommend them to a customer. For accessories, the focus was more on the count attached to an order. Cheap HDMI cables were usually the recommendation because it would add something to the order and customers were more likely to get them over the $100 cables. Those overpriced cables are sold because there is always some customer that only wants to buy the best of the best and Best Buy is glad to help them with that. So you are likely to get some salesman pressure, but it's not what people think it is. The pushing usually comes when you are checking out and they offer the protection plans. But again, if you tell them no, that's usually the last you will hear of it because it doesn't really mean much to an employee if they don't attach it. You will find a crazy employee every so often that thinks acting like a car salesman will make them management's favorite person, but I think you could find those people at most jobs.
  - aka1234 6y ago
    I didn't mean to imply Best Buy employees get commission. I only called them salespeople to distinguish the people who roam the tech aisles rather than work the register, Geek Squad, etc. Anecdotally, I've definitely more than one employee try to steer me to the overpriced cables when I was just looking for a quick HDMI cable. I typically just ask them if the decently-priced cable fits into the HDMI spec. By that time they usually figure out it's not worth the time to try and upsell and move on.
scarface74 6y ago
I just went to Best Buy last week. Shelves were empty, customer service was atrocious and they basically just sold phones, phone accessories, high end TVs, and computers. I went looking for four things - a wireless microphone set like public speakers use, a mixer, a 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch adapter and a 1/8 inch to Bluetooth adapter. Three of those four we sold at Radio Shack when I worked there in the early 90s. The fourth is something we would have sold. All of course at a crazy markup. I walked out and ordered everything from Amazon.
- copperx 6y ago
  If you have ever browsed Best Buy, you know they don't sell specialist audio equipment. You should have gone to a Guitar Center. They have all of those items in stock.
- MattSayar 6y ago
  Kinda funny, now that you mention it, that they don't sell all the streaming equipment aspiring YouTubers would want to buy. Or the equipment necessary for our newly-WFH workers.
opwieurposiu 6y ago
I like best buy. They are not the cheapest but I get pretty good customer service and so a few bucks extra is fair. Whenever I need a new laptop this is the only place I can go to test the keyboards.

248 points by prostoalex 6y ago

These days one of the biggest value adds of buying from Best Buy (over Amazon) is that you know you won't be getting counterfeit products. My confidence buying consumer electronics from BB is far higher than from Amazon.

miles 6y ago
Who knew that Best Buy's USP was simply shipping the product you actually bought?
- rectang 6y ago
  (For those like me who don't know the jargon: USP in this context seems to stand for "unique selling point".)
  - aspenmayer 6y ago
    Thank you. I’ve seen that for years and thought it was related to the USP used in vitamin labeling, and knew that wasn’t right, but assumed it was a kind of UL type thing. Wrong context entirely.
- mlthoughts2018 6y ago
  This feels tongue in cheek but it’s legit. As you scale the operation of being low latency (2 day Prime shipping) globally distributed (Amazon distribution network) CDN (stuff in warehouses) to the size of Amazon, it becomes a legit hard problem to match the per product validation that smaller retailers can achieve by drastically reducing and centralizing their distribution method (chain stores, focus on only one niche category of products like consumer electronics or specific clothing brand).
  - dhosek 6y ago
    I think Amazon has reached the too big to succeed stage of its growth. Putting aside counterfeiting issues, just finding a product on Amazon can be a nightmare.
    - mlthoughts2018 6y ago
      You have to have great machine learning and information organization solutions to function at that scale and I think it’s where the seams really show on Amazon’s two pizza team approach and deeply fractured dogfooding approaches to rely on internal versions of their external ML consumer services.
  - erik_seaberg 6y ago
    The problem is that Amazon scaled by accepting sketchy merchandise from pseudonymous dropshippers who obviously aren't legit manufacturers. Retail customers shouldn't have to wonder where a product came from, that was the whole point of branding them.
    - mlthoughts2018 6y ago
      No, they got sketchy sellers after scaling (mostly as a bookseller).
- paulmd 6y ago
  best buy has real problems with fraud too, on r/datahoarder you can read on an almost daily basis about people finding drives that have had the original (expensive) drive removed, replaced with some crappy 500GB drive, and repackaged.
afterburner 6y ago
Er, unless you buy from a third party on the Best Buy website? Which is a thing I was disappointed to find out they started doing a while ago.
wsatb 6y ago
Their shipping is also quite fast. At the beginning of the stay-at-home orders when Amazon was really struggling, I had couple of things delivered next day for free. It likely has to do with where you're at, but I was surprised because I had not ordered anything from Best Buy in ages when it would take anywhere from 5-14 days.
mey 6y ago
I tend to use other retailers for electronics, but this alone has driven me away from Amazon.
justhw 6y ago
Exactly. It was years ago that I last stepped foot in a Best Buy but just in 2020 alone I've been 5 times already. If my purchase is electronics and above $50, I check Best Buy first for local pickup, then B&H Photo and amazon last.
mrb 6y ago
I spend $10k/year on Amazon. The only counterfeit product I've gotten? A crêpe spatula that was flimsy and clearly not like the product pictures. Am I lucky or are you guys not able to detect suspicious product listings/sellers? I see them sometimes. They are easy to avoid.
- tjr225 6y ago
  > Am I lucky or are you guys not able to detect suspicious product listings/sellers? I see them sometimes. They are easy to avoid. Perhaps the posters you are replying to are simply choosing to buy from places where they don’t have to spend the mental energy to do this. It seems kind of absurd to me(and I’m not trying to be negative towards you- I sparingly shop on Amazon due to its convenience) that a retailer can convince their buyers that this is normal.
- Swizec 6y ago
  > Am I lucky or are you guys not able to detect suspicious product listings/sellers? I see them sometimes. They are easy to avoid. This is a skill that shouldn’t be required on Amazon. You don’t walk into a supermarket carefully inspecting every item to make sure it isn’t shady. You expect the supermarket to do that for you. Shopping on amazon often feels like buying wares from a rolled out blanket on the sidewalk in comparison.
- shard 6y ago
  I thought part of the problem was the commingling of stock, so that even if the seller seems legit, the product you receive could be from a counterfeit seller?
- felipemnoa 6y ago
  >> I see them sometimes. They are easy to avoid. I think the point is that they shouldn't be there in the first place.
- antjanus 6y ago
  There are certain items that are more susceptible: - kids toys - any kind of supplements/protein powder/etc. - cheaper electronics/cables/etc.
brianwawok 6y ago
So I hear this line over and over in Hacker News. Do people really have that many authenticity issues? I average well into 5 figures a year on Amazon stuff. Have been for years. Have never had an authenticity issue. I buy sold by Amazon and 3rd party. Name brand and white label. Electronics and home goods. I’m just not getting it?
- hprotagonist 6y ago
  After one especially dangerous purchase from a Fulfilled By Amazon seller, I will no longer buy bicycle components on amazon. Nothing happened after i reported it, either.
  - ardy42 6y ago
    > Nothing happened after i reported it, either. That's what's so infuriating about Amazon. Amazon should proactively police their store for counterfeits, but they don't. To add insult to injury, they won't even respond in a timely manner to reports of physically and economically impossible counterfeit items that are sold as part of a well known type of fraud [1]. [1] IIRC, I reported some "2TB" microsd cards selling for $10 a few years back, and the listings remained up for weeks. Had the same experience reporting price-gouging on N95 masks and hand sanitizer early in the pandemic, too.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- acrispino 6y ago
  I've received counterfeits of items worth as little as $15, fulfilled by Amazon.
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  I don't go into the five figures but I haven't had any issues. Or at least nobody who buys through my account has reported any. Pretty much none of it is high margin consumer stuff though. Kinda hard to fake plumbing fittings and fasteners without doing pretty much all the work it takes to do it right in the first place.
kstrauser 6y ago
The ironic part of that for me is that Best Buy where I grew up had a terrible reputation for selling returned stuff as new, sometimes shoved into the wrong re-heatshrunk box. I'm glad someone's doing well against Amazon, but I'm utterly surprised that Best Buy is the one that came out smelling like a rose.
- bitexploder 6y ago
  And it’s all a bunch of low quality drek. And I dread buying name brand products. I have had to send back numerous 100-300 items back to amazon because they sent me obviously opened and damaged items or a counterfeit item. About 1/10 things I bought were garbage and not the right thing. This year I have seriously considered canceling Amazon prime.
  - kstrauser 6y ago
    I’m not sure what’s going on with your orders. I’ve had a few Amazon misadventures, but they’re pretty far between. Pro tip: don’t buy the absolute cheapest version of a thing. If you’re looking for FooCorp’s Widgetmaster and most listings are for $75, don’t pick the $60 one.
    - neltnerb 6y ago
      But you have to go out of your way to do that, which means it will not be done by any meaningful number of people, which means that Amazon sees a benefit in it being as it is. Or else at least doesn't see enough benefit in fixing it. They may have the statistics to prove it, I still order from them and I have definitely gotten counterfeit goods but they've also consistently refunded my order when it gets messed up. Maybe they figure that the cost of fixing it is higher than the cost of replacing the item for the fraction of customers that notice.
    - bitexploder 6y ago
      I avoid third party sellers. Most of the items are sold by Amazon themselves. They have serious problems. I think it depends on what you are buying and how unlucky you are.
grej 6y ago
Exactly. I always buy electronic goods from BestBuy or Newegg for this reason, as soon as it became clear Amazon really doesn’t care that much about guarding against the counterfeiters
justaguy88 6y ago
I feel like they need to advertise it on the front door. "Our big online competitor is known for shipping counterfeits"
- felipemnoa 6y ago
  Something tells me that they would get sued.
  - Kaibeezy 6y ago
    Concur. Safer to imply it by saying: “WE are known for NOT selling counterfeits.”
  - ceejayoz 6y ago
    Truth is an affirmative defense to libel.
    - kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
      Can you libel a party without ever naming them?
      - ceejayoz 6y ago
        Yes. “My opponent is a pedophile” in a political race would still be libel. (Well, if untrue.)
grej 6y ago
This. I always buy electronic goods from BestBuy or Newegg for this reason, as soon as it became clear Amazon really doesn’t care that much about guarding against the counterfeiters
- mikelward 6y ago
  Have you ever tried to return anything to Newegg? I just tried to return something. They wouldn't honor their returns policy. There are a lot of similar complaints.
  - whoopdedo 6y ago
    And since the last ownership shuffle they've been emphasizing their version of 3rd-party marketplace and reducing the number of items they sell directly. One advantage I think they still have is slightly more informative reviews. Plus many vendors will monitor NewEgg for negative reviews and reach out to the customer to resolve the issue. That happens on Amazon too, but they aren't as transparent as when a review gets upgraded. Where on NewEgg you can see the vendor's reply.
    - coldpie 6y ago
      Yeah. I used to be all-Newegg for tech stuff, but the 3rd party marketplace made them no better than Amazon, so I quit bothering going to Newegg. Honestly, Best Buy is my first choice for tech stuff today, although their selection is more limited so I don't always buy from them.
jimmaswell 6y ago
I wanted a USB SATA reader in a hurry recently. Only thing Best Buy had was some odd looking $40 thing (might have been on a small sale) that came with a CD. The fancy one I got a while ago on Amazon was <$20 that had a power input for drives that needed it. The comparable one without that? $8. Five times cheaper. There's just no competition for price besides Wal Mart usually being pretty good and that's why I always go to Amazon first if it's something Wal Mart wouldn't have. Maybe I've had counterfeits but if so they were good enough I didn't notice. The problem seems extremely overblown, as someone who does a very high percentage of their shopping there.
- factotvm 6y ago
  Did you read in the article the part about Best Buy matching prices? That seems to undercut your assertion that price is a differentiator.
  - kevinmgranger 6y ago
    Only for the exact same item, no? They were almost certainly different brands.
    - AnthonyMouse 6y ago
      They've also started doing a thing where they have the manufacturer produce a different part number specifically for their store. Then even though it's the exact same item, they claim it isn't.
      - giancarlostoro 6y ago
        That sounds really wrong to me and dependant on the store itself. My local BestBuy stores would price match it. Hell I have asked a manager to lower the cost on a open box product that was their display machine. Saved me $150 if I remember correctly.
      - sukilot 6y ago
        Started? That's older than the average HN user.
rietta 6y ago
Extremely true. I have a Best Buy 2 miles from my house. I pretty much just use them for everything electronic that is mass market now. For boards and things MicroCenter. Won't buy from Amazon. Don't trust them at all to ship legitimate product.
elandrum 6y ago
Same with Target. I’ve switched nearly all of my household buying over to Target because they have an awesome app, good shipping, and no counterfeits.
- chaostheory 6y ago
  I used to feel the same about Target until my SO mentioned that they have a 3rd party marketplace now. Is that true? I didn't bother to check yet
  - sukilot 6y ago
    Yes and it's got the same counterfeits and totally fake garbage from the same sellers who sell on Amazon, Walmart, and Newegg.
  - cvhashim 6y ago
    Apparently its a curated list at the moment and invite only for 3rd party sellers. https://digiday.com/marketing/target-third-party-marketplace-sellers/ https://digiday.com/marketing/target-third-party-marketplace...
    - chaostheory 6y ago
      I forget the specifics, but we've already seen some recent garbage listings on Target. This was a mistake.
supernova87a 6y ago
Well, maybe I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum. I worry that at Best Buy, I'm going to: 1) pay more than I should, 2) be buying someone's returned/opened merchandise that they just put back on the shelf, and 3) hassled if I discover it and try to return it.
- gdulli 6y ago
  Best Buy price matches Amazon: "We match local retail competitors (including their online prices) and these qualifying online retailers: Amazon.com, Crutchfield.com, Dell.com, HP.com and TigerDirect.com."
- ziml77 6y ago
  I've never had trouble with their returns. The most painful part has been waiting in line at the returns counter.
  - owenversteeg 6y ago
    Yep, Best Buy has a customer for life in me because one time they replaced a nice laptop that was clearly outside the warranty. I was shocked and said it shouldn't be covered but the returns guy insisted. Whenever Best Buy comes up in conversation I mention my experience: the free PR they've gotten from that one return they gave me is probably half their total revenue by now :)
iphone_elegance 6y ago
I've been buying most of my non-apple hardware from them lately, nice delivery speed, easy return process (stores are everywhere) and mostly no third party sellers so far so good
monadic2 6y ago
Maybe online, but I don’t see many products at best buy worth counterfeiting. Do you have an example?
- toast0 6y ago
  I've certainly heard of counterfeit computer mice. Counterfeit movies, cds, and video games is easy to imagine. Headphones. Apple accessories.
entropea 6y ago
I bought my entire new 2020 gaming computer in individual parts, in person across 2-3 Best Buys in my area, except for the high end fans I wanted which came from Newegg. They're expanding what they carry, price match online, I get it immediately, and I know it's not counterfeit or a shady return they're selling me. Pretty sad Frys seems to (maybe) be going under. Especially since they'd price match. I heard they're having problems with suppliers and are still trying to stay open, but a visit to the store really looks hopeless for it's future.
soganess 6y ago
I also prefer buying best buy used over amazon "warehouse" used. Its way more likely the best buy used product is recently returned and in decent working order. I've got nothing but horror stories recently from amazon warehouse.

exabrial 6y ago

Click bait headline that was actually quite enjoyable to read.

AceJohnny2 6y ago
clickbait is the logical endpoint of ad-based business models. Ad-based business models are the logical endpoint of an ad-dominated landscape. See: people complaining about paywalls.
- mindvirus 6y ago
  Way off topic at this point, but mobile game ads are an amazing study of this. They're ads for totally made up gameplay - not just CG, but like a totally different game made just for the ad. And it makes sense that the things that would drive installs and clicks doesn't have anything to do with the game itself - I'm sure that was discovered just through random A/B testing (as I'm sure this headline was).

WalterBright 6y ago

An effective counterpoint to the charge that Amazon is an unstoppable monopoly.

hinkley 6y ago
Best Buy has hardly any competitors. The next closest thing we have to an electronics store is a Microsoft/Apple/Sony store. Best Buy has partnerships with two of those, and I don't think I've seen more than 1 of the other. Most other places you can buy electronics also sell milk, sweaters, or both.
- organsnyder 6y ago
  Target has a decent electronics section (nothing like a dedicated big-box store, of course).
  - hinkley 6y ago
    Yeah Target is perhaps the least bad among the 'milk and sweaters' crowd. It seems like it's mostly there for impulse buys and/or video games.
kevincox 6y ago
I don't see how amazon is a monopoly. Sure, it has huge value due to the breadth of products and the number of consumers. But each consumer can shop at a different (or multiple) other stores and each seller can sell at multiple stores. No one is really locked in. Everyone is there because it is popular and good enough. The only real "monopolistic" piece is the economy of scale. I almost never need to pay shipping on amazon because I can bundle multiple, even unrelated, items together. This potentially lowers their shipping cost and is one of the few things that would make be buy something from Amazon instead of a different retailer outside of convenience, price or security.
ilaksh 6y ago
Its more like they are both virtual monopolies in two different but overlapping markets. The issue with Amazon is that they own the marketplace that they deliver on. The reason we go there is because it's the biggest market. The solution is public distributed protocols to create public markets where you don't have to compete against the owner of the market.

superwayne 6y ago

Maybe change title to "Best Buy used a combination of corporate strategy and emotional intelligence to save itself from ruin" (from the subtitle).

warent 6y ago
Good suggestion. Current title is really bad clickbait that does it no justice

finaliteration 6y ago

I've commented here a few times that Best Buy really has turned itself around and now offers a great shopping experience. I have a location nearby and every time I go in to buy something the employees are super helpful and knowledgeable. They also have a decent selection and can usually have a pickup item ready in less than an hour. Additionally, they will price match with Amazon on most things. I'll choose them over Amazon any time if they have the item that I need (which they typically do).

scarface74 6y ago
I can’t imagine anything that I would want from Best Buy where I would need to ask an employee anything besides “do you have it in stock.”
- finaliteration 6y ago
  A couple of examples: - I bought an Apple Watch through them that was the cellular version. There was some activation error with the carrier when we tried to set it up, and rather than the employee I was working with shrugging it off and saying, “Sorry, you have to call the carrier”, they handled it all for me and got it fixed before I left the store. - I bought a Logitech mouse. It was having issues with the cursor stuttering. I went to return it, they went though the process in store of updating the firmware to make sure it was a hardware issue, and then they gave me a full refund and recommended another mouse (which I still have and love).
0d9eooo 6y ago
I feel odd being so gushing about Best Buy, because for the longest time I really didn't have the most positive impression of them at all, but I'm not exaggerating when I say that over the last few years, I've had the best customer service experience from them that I've had anywhere in any store of any sort. It's really phenomenal, like enough to make me make a point of purchasing things there when I have the option. I don't even know where to begin, but I feel like they've been super attentive and genuinely helpful without dumbing things down. Whether that's worth it or not to any given person is a personal thing but I was really surprised by it.

gkoberger 6y ago

This feels like a bit of a puff piece to me. Nothing in here felt "brilliant" to me. In fact, I'd argue Frys or Radio Shack did everything on this list better. That being said, I do often prefer Best Buy to Amazon for tech things, for the same reason I prefer clothing stores to online shopping. For something that expensive and personal, I want to see it in person. I want to see if it'll fit (whatever that means... from sizing to the types of plugs, etc), see compatible products, etc. I do love is how accurate their website is. It's usually right, and I'd love if more stores had an online way to see if something was in stock before I went all the way there. In my experience, Best Buy is the one that gets it right the most.

ketzo 6y ago
Honestly, the In-Home Advisor thing is pretty unique to me, particularly the “be comfortable not closing a sale” quote — that seems pretty cool for the company that’s known for Geek Squad
ocdtrekkie 6y ago
On top of that, it costs nothing to hold that item that's in stock for pickup, and during the worst of COVID you could not only curbside pickup stuff you put on hold, but arbitrary things not ordered in advance too.
- copperx 6y ago
  What do you mean by the "worst of COVID"? According to all stats, it has been getting worse, not better. Unless you're talking about NYC.
  - ocdtrekkie 6y ago
    Fair. Worst of COVID so far, in my area. When everything was shut down. Most business is open again here, with precautions. But with the school year coming, I certainly think another shutdown is possible.
m463 6y ago

zzapplezz 6y ago

Interesting perspective of a retailer that invested in its employees and found success. It's sad to see employee benefits and loyalty and an all-time low across society when just a generation ago it was so strong.

causality0 6y ago

So, he used that practice to his advantage--by instituting a price matching system. More like he used a price-matching program to swindle people. Suppose you want a 512GB microsd card. You've heard through their ads Best Buy will match Amazon's prices, so you depart your house with cash in hand, happy you won't have to wait for shipping. You walk into Best Buy, pick a Sandisk drive off the shelf, and show the cashier that despite Best Buy listing it at $150, Amazon only charges $100, so please match their price. Sorry says the cashier, this Sandisk 512GB U-3 V30 A2 Class 10 microsd card is model SDSQXBZ-512G-ANCMA, while the Sandisk 512GB U-3 V30 A2 Class 10 card on Amazon is model number SDSQXA1-512G-GN6MA so we can't price match. Price matching means absolutely nothing when every single one of Best Buy's overpriced products has its own special model number that prevents them from ever having to price match anything.

brianwawok 6y ago
Video games aren’t like this.
- frenchie14 6y ago
  Funny you mention that. I tried to buy FF7R a few weeks back at Target and have them price match Walmart for $10 off. Walmart had two listings - FF7R at $60 and FF7R with a bonus "art card" tucked into the cover for $50. If you search FF7R on their site the $50 one pops up. When Target goes to price match, they see the $60 one. A clever trick by Walmart to offer something on sale without allowing people to price match it - the opposite application of the same trick being discussed in this thread.
brandnewlow 6y ago
Appliance companies explicitly do this for this exact reason too.
op00to 6y ago
They do this on appliances as well. I did get them to pricematch anyway, basically by being annoying. It wasn't really worth the discount.
6y ago

donor20 6y ago

I just got tired of the FAKE apple product on Amazon - no matter how many times it said genuine it never seemed to be actually genuine. So I started buying more from apple directly, and other tech products from best buy etc. Best buy is in a space that has so much fake garbage on Amazon it is astounding. USB 3.x (lie), xxWh (lie) and on and on. I actually don't understand how amazon's systems can be SO bad at weeding out the scammers. Even more annoying, when you go to return something they do things like say - keep it (the junk) and here is your money back. Can't complain about the customer service but feels so wasteful.

beamatronic 6y ago
There’s a lot of good reasons to buy genuine Apple things only from Apple. If you have the Apple card you get 3% off. If you buy a pricey item you can get 24 months financing with no interest.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

anirudhgarg 6y ago

I wish Barnes and Nobles also did price match with Amazon

dhosek 6y ago
The problem is that Amazon treats books as a loss leader. Books are a somewhat unique business in general in that you have a huge number of products and thin inventory of most of them (most books at a bookstore will have 1–2 copies in stock with only a few dozen titles with larger inventories). To sell at Amazon discounts would mean in many cases losing money given that bookstores typically pay 60% of the cover price of the book. I did a quick check and saw that Amazon is claiming a 51% discount on The Art of Racing in the Rain although I notice that there are two paperback editions of the book with the same cover available at my local indie, one a trade paperback, the other mass market paperback (the difference is the latter is printed on smaller-sized pages) and the latter has a list price of $9.99. Interestingly, the latter edition, doing a search by ISBN shows up at the same price as the TPB which is—interesting and makes me wonder if they're doing inventory commingling with these two editions. I'd recommend Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption for a (somewhat dated) look at the unique economics of bookselling. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226525910/donhosek http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226525910/donhosek
lsllc 6y ago
As a former B&N junkie (used to go there several times a week), for me at least the issue was stock. As Amazon encroached on B&N's business they made the unfortunate and classic mistake of trying to reduce costs, which generally meant keeping less stuff in stock. So now you want say "The Rust Programming Language" book and you want it now? The local B&N doesn't have it, nor do any nearby stores. They can ship to you or ship to store within a few days, or you can just get it on Amazon Prime. Of course this is a hard problem to solve, they clearly can't have every book you'd want in your local store. But they could have regional warehouses with more stock and either same/next-day to store or even DoorDash type same/next day local delivery. Ultimately, I think B&N were out matched by the Amazon juggernaut. Shame really, as going to B&N on the way home from dinner at a restaurant was a nice thing to do (wow, remember when you could go out to dinner?).

fermienrico 6y ago

Am I the only one who absolutely hates advisors? I don't need advice for electronics. I can do my own research. May be this is not a common thing for avg Joe? I always found the people at Bestbuy or any big stores are actually less knowledgeable than what I already know. I think this goes along with anything I want to purchase. If I am in the Hermes store to buy a $700 scarf, I don't want their "advisors" to influence my decision. Not that I would go to the Hermes store, but just making a point :)

asperous 6y ago
For some people, advisors are critical and under appreciated. Lots of people wouldn't know the difference between a hdmi cord and an ethernet cord. The article mentions that they have toned it down "Be comfortable not to make a sale." No one has ever liked sales tactics but they do work, however Best Buy is willing to give up some sales for the overall brand I think.
variaga 6y ago
No, you're not the only one. I cringe every time I even think about going to BestBuy, because I find their "customer service" actively unpleasant. Pretty much the only time I ever go to BestBuy is when (a) I need a specific thing that they sell and (b) I want it right now. I do not need or want your "advisor" following me around the store, suggesting that Monster _Ethernet_ cables will improve my sound quality, trying to up-sell me the extended warranty and explaining why a 1-bit DAC is Good, Actually. I liked Fry's (until it got _very_ depressing. Clearly Fry's is dying.) because -in addition to selection & prices- at Fry's I could actually browse and look at stuff _without_ feeling pressured by the sales staff.

tchock23 6y ago

Best Buy has the best curbside pickup program that I've experienced from any big box retailer. They became my "go to" place for buying anything electronic during the lockdown. I just hope that experience continues to be solid now that their retail locations are open again...

ianhorn 6y ago
Curbside has been really excellent. I buy a thing online and less than half an hour later I'm back at home with the device. Makes me realize how much of my amazon shopping was because of the fast delivery.
FactCore 6y ago
I bought a laptop from Best Buy recently, and the limited amount of contact was great. Just pressed a button on my phone when I arrived, confirmed with the employee that the order was in-fact mine, and he put in my trunk without even getting close to me!
- scarface74 6y ago
  And then you end up with Best Buy crapware on your computer and usually they have worse specs. I have never seen as many 14 and 15 inch laptop screens with less than 1080p in my life.
  - FactCore 6y ago
    I actually just used Best Buy as a vendor. I found the laptop elsewhere and it was the only place it was available (coronavirus shortages). It doesn't have any bloatware other than from OEM itself.
JamesSwift 6y ago
Yep, I was really impressed with the process. I _really_ hope it sticks around after the pandemic.

jedimastert 6y ago

The current title is "Amazon Almost Killed Best Buy. Then, Best Buy Did Something Completely Brilliant". There's a subreddit called "saved you a click" where they basically answer click-bait-y titles with the answer in the title. For instance, the title could be > Amazon Almost Killed Best Buy. Then, Best Buy Did Something Completely Brilliant | They treated employees better, started price matching, and made home visits Of course, if the article is written well enough, you should read it anyways, but it always feels cheap to just pose a question in the title that could be answered in one sentence.

just-ok 6y ago
Thanks for saving me a click. :)
btown 6y ago
Clickbait headlines and articles-that-should-be-a-sentence often go hand in hand... but you can have the former without the latter. IMO this is an article worth reading. There actually isn't much filler here - every paragraph has a relevant statistic or describes a part of the business model changes, and it appears that Best Buy's success was due to "life by a thousand wins" rather than "death by a thousand cuts" - each of which is enumerated and described concisely in the article. But YMMV.

bitwize 6y ago

We know that law enforcement agencies have been deputizing the Geek Squad to search people's hard disks. Are Best Buy In-Home Advisors going to be deputized to search people's homes? I don't want to "build a relationship" with a national retail chain. Just take my money and give me the widget.

p1mrx 6y ago

Best Buy was probably saved by states enforcing sales tax on Amazon and similar online retailers. Even price matching doesn't work when your competitor has a 5-10% advantage.

specialist 6y ago
Yup. Why doesn't Walmart complain every day that Amazon's a better tax cheat? Mutually assured destruction? The Land of the Giants podcast series also touches on Amazon's financing, capitalization. Amazon's core innovations are, in order, 1) tax avoidance, 2) profits avoidance, and 3) treating knowledge workers as an inexhaustible resource to burn thru.

lifeisstillgood 6y ago

tl;dr - a new CEO actually listened to employees and eve gave them back a discount program, embraced "show rooming" by price matching Amazon and (the vaguer part) builde relationships with customers. But we on HN think the biggest problem Amazon has is fake goods, not Best Buy

rietta 6y ago

Another massive halo for Best Buy in my opinion is their eWaste recycling program. Who else lets you take old gear, even big things like printers, and drop off to be responsibly recycled. It is crazy convenient and gives me a reason to shop there. Our store has shut down this due to COVID but I am looking forward to being able to recycle some more outdated IT gear when they resume. My dad has more eWaste staged in his basement to recycle as well.

alexpotato 6y ago
I would argue this is another genius move on BB's part. Who better to buy new electronics than someone who has: - clearly bought electronics in the past - is knowledgeable about e-waste recycling (guessing there is a strong correlation between this and disposable income) - is now inside your store because you have an e-waste recycling program This by itself would be a brilliant move.

danso 6y ago

I use Amazon to check for a variety of reviews and comparison data. Then I see if my local Best Buy has it in stock and at a comparable price. I haven’t really had many nightmare Amazon scenarios, but Best Buy’s logistics/distribution feels “safer”, or at least equally safe. I also haven’t had issues with Amazon’s returns, but have also had no issue with big ticket returns like TVs with Best Buy (I don’t think I’d buy a TV on Amazon). Mostly, the few recent times I’ve been at Best Buy have been a pleasure (not quite Apple Store, but good enough) and the in-person experience a real value-add, that the positive vibe carries to my online shopping habits

factchecker01 6y ago

This is a 1 year plus old article

Havoc 6y ago

That title is cringe-worthy. Might as well have called it "Amazon hates this one simple trick"

dimator 6y ago

I wish Barnes and Nobles would find a strategy to combat Amazon competition. When I walk into a BN, it feels just like how Best Buy felt when it really seemed doomed (about a decade ago). BN is the only bookstore in many American cities, especially more rural ones, and I fear for a future in which the physical book buying experience is lost.

llsf 6y ago

Beside the click-bait title, it reflects an interesting feat. The turnaround of an electronic store in US where Amazon and Walmart are grabbing more and more market shares. I am glad that Best Buy found a more profitable path. I also bought my TV and replaced my microwave at Best Buy. The price was matching Amazon and I could see the products, and get them home. Employees were friendly and helpful. It was a nice experience.

bsanr2 6y ago

>and workers seem happier than ever. My entire cohort from when I arrived in late 2017 is gone from my home store, including people who were there before me. For sales and ops, at least, the wave that brought BB its renewed reputation ended around early 2019. A lot of the incentives disappeared, and pay just didn't keep in step with workload or need. I invite anyone confused about how workers really feel to head over to the Best Buy subreddit. They got rocked, hard, by the shutdown policies, and I'm personally glad I was separated when I was. Edit: Also, I didn't realize that this article was more than a year old. Joly is gone. Corie Barry, the former CFO, replaced him last winter.

rootusrootus 6y ago

This article is very believable. These are basically the things I noticed about our local Best Buy. First, the associates got less pushy and more personable. And second, they'll price match Amazon. It's not really fair that they must compete with Amazon, they should cost a little more for the showrooming privilege, but I can totally see how that was the only real answer. Now I buy things from them that I would otherwise wait two days to get from Amazon. Also, Amazon is making it more appealing since their own product quality is in the tank. I've said it before, I'll say it again, if Amazon doesn't figure out how to have a "Ships from and Sold By Amazon" option that guarantees no counterfeits, and no intermixing with 3rd party products, they're going to steadily lose customers. And once you lose the trust of those customers, good luck earning it back easily.

sickcodebruh 6y ago

I worked at Best Buy #583 in Mt Laurel, NJ from 2001 or 2002 or until 2003 Or 2004, from age 17 until 20, I think. I started working in their PC repair area when it was still “Best Buy services,” black shirts instead of blue, a few years before the Geek Squad thing happened, and left a couple years after that transition. I went in to interview for the PC sales department, the manager thought I’d be better fixing computers, and it was the start of my whole career in technology. Even back then, I remember a lot of their corporate-produced video content played at quarterly meetings would talk about the value in reinvention. They were very aware that companies that didn’t adapt to the market were doomed, they’d reference old department stores for comparisons. It’s not surprising that even though they stumbled for a few years, they still managed to turn it around. I remember being very aware of the high production value of those same quarterly videos. They looked so expensive and were occasionally funnier than they had any right being. It stood out because we all felt under paid and under valued, we’d talk about how much those videos must have cost and how much we all could have used some help. A few times a year, I still have anxiety nightmares where I’m late for a shift or I show up and there’s a line out the door and nobody to help me. Or there will be miles of racks of computers that need virus scans run and I have to do all of them before I go home. It was the most stressful job I’ve ever had, possibly the most stressful job I’ll ever have. It taught me more about troubleshoot software and dealing with angry people than I ever could have predicted. Simultaneously one of the worst experiences and a crucial one. Funny how that works.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
CalRobert 6y ago
I worked at Best Buy in San Luis Obispo around 2003 and it was clear that if you didn't sell enough warranties, $29 USB cables (wholesale cost about 80 cents), and (bafflingly) subscriptions to Entertainment Weekly you would get your hours cut to effectively 0. I got chewed out and nearly fired by my boss because a customer came in with a broken lens for their camera they'd just bought, and I told them a replacement was about $99 when _instead_ I should have apparently told them a warranty could be bought retroactively for $199 and that would replace the lens (this was a bald-faced lie, it had clearly been dropped). Of course, consumers should expect that because Best Buy is blatantly evil, but the scummiest thing was that customers would walk in with a printout FROM BESTBUY.COM showing an item was $129, demand we match their own website instead of charging $149, and they'd be walked over to a kiosk showing that the product at bestbuy.com was $149. (They had a mock bestbuy.com running on the kiosk that looked like the web version but with in-store prices). Remember smartphones weren't a thing at that point. https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus23dec23-column.html https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus23dec23-column... It was valuable as a reminder of just how bad most jobs are, and that most people in America are treated like absolute shit by psychopath bosses who themselves live in fear of their boss, and so on. It certainly was a motivator to learn to code. Quitting the Wednesday before Black Friday was a thrill. It's supremely depressing Best Buy still exists.

josefresco 6y ago

"fixed broken systems, like an internal search engine that gave bad data about which products were in stock;" My Dad bought a TV at Best Buy several days ago. He looked for the model he wanted, couldn't find it. Went to the front desk and asked, they looked it up and sure enough it wasn't in stock. My Dad walks to the back of the store, finds the exact TV model he wanted with no assistance from any 'blue shirt'. Sounds like they still have some work to do lol

aka1234 6y ago

I wonder how much of Best Buy's success can be attributed to using 'emotional intelligence' to 'build relationships' with gullible people and sell $1,000+ HDMI cables to them. Does it happen a lot? Probably not. But selling one of those a week will likely pay for at least one salesperson's wage for that week. I haven't shopped for myself at a Best Buy and years (and the last time I did, it was for CD/DVDs). And the salespeople trying to 'build relationships' with me are just awful. But that's likely because I'm a misanthrope. I know what I'm getting into when I go to Best Buy. I'm going to go help a friend buy an overpriced laptop because they want my help since I'm an 'IT guy' and they want to shop at Best Buy for some reason.

Gamon 6y ago
Best Buy employees don't get commission. When I worked there 5 years ago, management encouraged us to add services to bulk up numbers, but employees never really cared because it never comes back to hurt them if they don't. For those cables, I doubt you could find an employee that would recommend them to a customer. For accessories, the focus was more on the count attached to an order. Cheap HDMI cables were usually the recommendation because it would add something to the order and customers were more likely to get them over the $100 cables. Those overpriced cables are sold because there is always some customer that only wants to buy the best of the best and Best Buy is glad to help them with that. So you are likely to get some salesman pressure, but it's not what people think it is. The pushing usually comes when you are checking out and they offer the protection plans. But again, if you tell them no, that's usually the last you will hear of it because it doesn't really mean much to an employee if they don't attach it. You will find a crazy employee every so often that thinks acting like a car salesman will make them management's favorite person, but I think you could find those people at most jobs.
- aka1234 6y ago
  I didn't mean to imply Best Buy employees get commission. I only called them salespeople to distinguish the people who roam the tech aisles rather than work the register, Geek Squad, etc. Anecdotally, I've definitely more than one employee try to steer me to the overpriced cables when I was just looking for a quick HDMI cable. I typically just ask them if the decently-priced cable fits into the HDMI spec. By that time they usually figure out it's not worth the time to try and upsell and move on.

scarface74 6y ago

I just went to Best Buy last week. Shelves were empty, customer service was atrocious and they basically just sold phones, phone accessories, high end TVs, and computers. I went looking for four things - a wireless microphone set like public speakers use, a mixer, a 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch adapter and a 1/8 inch to Bluetooth adapter. Three of those four we sold at Radio Shack when I worked there in the early 90s. The fourth is something we would have sold. All of course at a crazy markup. I walked out and ordered everything from Amazon.

copperx 6y ago
If you have ever browsed Best Buy, you know they don't sell specialist audio equipment. You should have gone to a Guitar Center. They have all of those items in stock.
MattSayar 6y ago
Kinda funny, now that you mention it, that they don't sell all the streaming equipment aspiring YouTubers would want to buy. Or the equipment necessary for our newly-WFH workers.

opwieurposiu 6y ago

I like best buy. They are not the cheapest but I get pretty good customer service and so a few bucks extra is fair. Whenever I need a new laptop this is the only place I can go to test the keyboards.