Many years ago, I needed to buy a new hi-hat stand for my drum kit. It was a bit urgent, as I had a show coming up and my existing stand had just broken. I bit the proverbial bullet and went out to my local strip mall that had both a Guitar Center and a Sam Ash in it. Not only did neither one of the stores have the hi-hat I wanted in stock (DW’s most popular model, I might add), but I was treated rudely at both locations. Only one had asked if I wanted to order it, and neither offered me an alternative for my rather urgent need (G.C. didn’t even offer to call other stores, I had to ask them to do it). Furthermore, with regards to Guitar Center, the item was in stock from Musician’s Friend online, which they own, but the distribution channels don’t like up and you can’t have those items shipped to a Guitar Center store. Frustrated, I overnight-shipped a stand from Amazon.
Remarking later to my sister about the experience, I jokingly said that aside from using their showroom to test-drive various products, I had no real reason to go there again.
A few years after that, my sister and I decided to buy my mother a new TV for her birthday. Needing to get something quickly, we opted to buy a TV online at Best Buy’s website, and then pick it up in the store. I paid for the TV, but I wanted her to pick it up for me, since I had to catch a flight the following day. No option was available online to let someone else pick up the order for you, so I called the store to ask. I was transferred to a female manager who very curtly replied, “NO, we can’t do that, you have to pick it up yourself and BRING ID.” Then she hung up on me.
Fast forward to now, with this wonderful article from Forbes. Larry Downes has hit the nail squarely on the head with regards to Big Box chains.
Quoted for truth, from page 4:
[Amazon.com's] Phone support is instant, responsive, and knowledgeable. Returns are simple and unburdened by restocking fees and other gotchas. Inventory is precisely managed in a single system that spans all distribution points and third party partners.
Best Buy could have done all of this years ago, and done it better. It had decades of experience in retail, in customer service, in distribution, in forecasting, in marketing and sales. It had, one presumes, computer systems that could have been upgraded to integrate with a new online front end. It had expertise in the electronic products it sells, and potent leverage over key manufacturers to ensure favorable terms and access.
But Best Buy squandered all of those assets. And now, along with many of its big box peers, the company is caught in a death spiral.
It seems that the boxes have never really figured out. We don’t like going to your stores, we don’t like dealing with your incompetent staff, we only do it because of supposed convenience, or, in the case of Best Buy, exclusivity arrangements with manufacturers. And when you continue, year after year, to make those experiences even worse, customers will continue to reject you in favor of better experiences.
Amazon, on the other hand, gets it quite clearly. When they heard from customers that they wanted faster shipping more often, they introduced Amazon Prime. Flat yearly fee, and you get upgraded to free 2nd-day shipping on almost all items, nearly negating the biggest downside of ordering online, the wait. They’ve also started local delivery, having more distribution centers closer to their customers, allowing delivery the next business day without exorbitant overnight fees. Meanwhile, it took Best Buy over six years before they offered the option of having someone else pick up the item for you. And even then, they don’t have the items ready for you, the process takes forever, and often they bring out the wrong item or simply can’t locate it in the store.
Best Buy will go the way of Circuit City before we know it, but it won’t be soon enough.