Best Buy

Best Buy is known as one of the largest consumer electronics retailer in the world. Their stores are found in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and China. In 1966, Richard Schulze and his business partner Gary Smoliak opened an audio store, the Sound of Music, in Saint Paul Minnesota. In the 1980’s, Best Buy debuted on the New York Stock Exchange with an offering of 8.3 million shares. In the early 1990’s it hit the $1 billion mark in annual revenues. In the 20000’s, Best Buy acquired Canada, China, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and opened its 1000th store in the Mall of America in Minnesota. After Circuit City went out of business, Best Buy became the largest electronics retail store in the eastern United States: Figure 1: August 27, 2011. Google.com
So why are they in trouble now? What can they do to rebuild their empire?
Customer Service
Right now, Best Buy’s customer service needs an upgrade. As soon as I walk into Best Buy, the first thing I noticed is the amount of people wearing blue walking around aimlessly. When you ask for assistance, most of the time I get someone who has absolutely no knowledge on the product. I can read directions too! These employees need to be knowledgeable on the product they’re selling. Act like experts! For example, when I went to Best Buy a couple of weeks ago, I asked what were the differences between this product vs. another product, and the sales representative read the box labels as his response. This was a helpless response and I could labels and directions myself. Their employees lack training, knowledge and expertise. They need to assign an individual in a specific area and make them an expert. Provide them with information, examples of customer’s questions, and test their employees to follow up. I also notice that Best Buy’s employees however are better trained at selling their “exclusive” items or services, such as Cinema now. But this training is heading into the wrong direction. For example, an article