Bye bye, Best Buy.

The last several years have shown us the demise of retail giants like Circuit City and CompUSA. In a way, the birth of these big-box retailers was out of necessity: electronics and computers were typically too complicated for the average consumer to research without help from knowledgeable salespeople. On Monday, Larry Downes at Forbes wrote a piece on Best Buy’s recent disappointing earnings announcement, and how Best Buy may soon go the way of the dodo as well.¹

With the flop of 3D televisions and the expansion of Apple’s own retail locations, there was no killer product on the horizon that would lift it from the doldrums.

The problem isn’t with a lack of compelling hardware, or even Apple’s rise.² Rather, it’s entirely about a lack of customer service. Forbes addresses this by discussing the annoying up-selling and cross-selling that salespeople are required to try, but that’s not the main problem. It’s the education.

It doesn’t take much to become a retail employee at one of these stores. Your average Best Buy is staffed by teenagers and college kids trying to earn a bit of pocket change. Occasionally you’ll find someone who’s been selling TVs for the last ten years and knows the brands and tech and usability of each option quite well, but how often does that happen? How often is the basis of hiring an employee to truly understand the products they’re selling, and educate them about the products over the course of their employment?

On our last trip to Best Buy, we eyed the integrated Bose surround sound systems offered. There were three. Between two salesmen, neither could tell us the extent of the differences between systems, and the prices were no better than what we could get from Bose directly. Neither salesman could offer suggestions on comparable equipment, both agreeing that “Bose is the best”.³ When we asked a question they couldn’t answer, they looked on Best Buy’s web site.

Here’s the thing: we can go online, too, and we do.⁴ As a kid, when our father wanted to shop for a piece of electronics, we’d drive down to the local electronics store where we were greeted by grown men who knew the products they sold inside and out. They didn’t have to consult a big book to determine what options a given company had, or what a particular device could or could not do. They knew these answers because it was their job, and in order to do their job well, they had to stay educated about their trade. That quality is lost these days, and it’s easier and quicker for us to do some online research and make a purchase on the web than it is to get shoddy information from a kid who only knows to get on Best Buy’s web page for more information about what they sell.

Don’t think we’re singling out Best Buy, here. The same is true wherever we go these days. Pride in knowing your product is left to very niche, small outlets.[^4] A local Starbucks barista didn’t know the definition of “fair trade coffee”. A Target employee in the cell phone area didn’t know what Jawbone was, or what the display of the Jawbone Up was for. If your employees don’t know their product, then they’re failures. And you are too.

We’re reminded of the magical Macy’s from Miracle on 34th Street, which ended up formalizing a policy to direct buyers to exactly what they were looking for even if Macy’s itself didn’t have it. Nowadays, retail employees can’t do this, because they barely even know their own, in-house products. But maybe the decline of big retailers will increase the gaps that smaller, niche retailers can fit. Looking to put a home theater system together remains a confusing endeavor, and there’s still opportunity for small retailers in this space. Growing that expertise into something profitable, however, will be a challenge, especially given the low salaries most salespeople are forced to cope with.

As for Best Buy, we won’t miss ‘em.

Tagged as: bricks, internet, mendax.org