Yet Another Reason Best Buy Sucks

BCampbell

BCampbell

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In a Volkswagen somewhere in upstate New York
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http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28056

Best Buy corporate PR told the INQ that cases were isolated. A Best Buy representative said: "We are aware of instances where Best Buy employee action was inconsistent with company guidelines for promotional activities surrounding the sale of Xbox 360. We will accept returns or exchanges for any unwanted Xbox 360-related purchases. In addition, we have taken appropriate measures to ensure this situation will not occur with future Xbox 360 promotions. We extend our sincere apologies to our customers."

An internal Best Buy memorandum seen by the INQUIRER and sent on Tuesday 11/15/2005 at 8:02am to several mailing lists at Best Buy, mostly managers in the Pacific Northwest, instructed stores on what was to be done.

...

"We will be selling our units in packages," the memo said. "Each store should hold back three to four units of each model for those customers who put up an argument about being able to only buy the unit. Everything else will be sold in bundles. This keeps us in alignment with everyone's expectations."
 
Lots of other retailers did this as well. Once it was known that there would not be nearly as many 360s in the initial holiday order as was previously promised, most of the retailers I know about that did pre-sales limited actual fulfillment of those pre-orders to bundle orders first. In my "Top 10 reasons Why I hate the 360" article I recounted a co-worker's direct experience with this at a different retailler here in Ohio- he pre-ordered just a 360 several weeks ago but was turned away because he had not ordered a bundle, and the retailler said that they could not promise when they would be able to fulfill it. They did offer him a refund, but the fact remains that they gave preferential status to the customers that spent the most dollars on the bundles, which *I* think is unfair- the whole idea of the PREORDER should be "first come-first served".

As far as the "halo" effect the article mentions, they seem to be spinning this as something nefarious and devious when in fact it's simply (IMHO) reasonable salemanship to suggest a HDTV, home theater speaker setup, etc. to go with the 360. Of course, dropping $5,000 on a wide-screen plasma display to take best advantage of the 360s graphics really blows the whole "affordability of consoles vs. PC" arguement out of the water, but that's neither here nor there... What I dislike about the linked article is the fact that they seem to be dinging Best Buy for simply wanting to sell add-on products to what are obviously the most "enthusiast" type of customers... nothing wrong with that.

PS- you said "suck"! :hyper:
 
I guess when i called Best Buy after the launch, i should have raised all hell......I probably wouldn't have gotten one anyway....but heh, who knows??....Maybe they would have let me see one and then they'd snatch it out of my grubby little hands
 
My buddies and i sold fake 360 boxes (ty photoshop) weighed with stone for $450 a pop. Cleaned house.

Go capitalism!
 
One of my former roommates worked at a Best Buy. He told me about how things work behind the scenes, and yes, they are shady. He got me one heck of a discount for my PC and my Xbox. Too bad he no longer works there or I would have a 360 as well. The employees always find ways around the system. I know of Wal-mart employees who were hooking people up. When Halo2 came out, they "accidentally" sold a hole crate at 8pm the day before they were to be released. No one knew up put them on the shelves and the cashiers claimed they thought it would be ok since they were already on the shelf.

Pay someone only enough to buy cheap pizza and see the quality you get.
 
ImagoX said:
Lots of other retailers did this as well.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm not necessarily responding to the bundling, but to the fact that this person said they were not forcing people to buy bundles, but then corporate memo said that not only should all of them be sold as bundles, but that attach rate would determine what stores get new product when it's shipped.

For those unfamiliar with the retail industry, "attach rate" is what you sell with a product. Retail stores are not making much, if any, money directly from sales of 360's, but things like peripherals have high markups, so they can make more money by selling more of these "attached" items. Basically, if best Buy stores aren't selling enough peripherals and other high-markup items with the 360's, the Home Office is threatening to cut them off from supply in the near future.

This, when the rep says that this type of activity is "inconsistent with company guidelines for promotional activities surrounding the sale of Xbox 360." Obviously, those activities are very consistent with Best Buy's promotional activities.
 
BCampbell said:
For those unfamiliar with the retail industry, "attach rate" is what you sell with a product. Retail stores are not making much, if any, money directly from sales of 360's, but things like peripherals have high markups, so they can make more money by selling more of these "attached" items. Basically, if best Buy stores aren't selling enough peripherals and other high-markup items with the 360's, the Home Office is threatening to cut them off from supply in the near future.

This, when the rep says that this type of activity is "inconsistent with company guidelines for promotional activities surrounding the sale of Xbox 360." Obviously, those activities are very consistent with Best Buy's promotional activities.
Click to expand...

Oh HELL yeah it is... I worked in retail management for almost 10 years, and I can tell you that this sort of practice is standard operating procedure in retail. That said, I STILL don't see it as a bad thing... In this "Wal Mart" market of mass sales/low margins that WE THE CONSUMER have created for ourselves, the retail outlets have got to motivate sales people to add-on products with every sale, whether it be extra rolls of film or batteries with cameras, DVDs to go with your new DVD player, a new helmet and leather jacket to go with your new motorcycle, camping supplies to go with the new RV you just leased or big TVs for the guy that just dumped $800 on a 360 bundle. Hell, even Amazon's much vaunted "Product Recommendation" system is exactly this: a way to get you to add on other items to your current order and inflate the profit the merchant will see on that sale.

I have no problem with this, myself- where this crosses the line is when a merchant uses a "bait and switch" tactic like an advertised price on a product that they knew full well they wouldn't have in stock, which is what sounds to ME like what happened.

If they say they don't overtly motivate their sales people to this kind of standard, Best Buy's lying through their PR teeth. But, so would ANY retailler.
 
What I want to hear is that I have a 360 waiting for me at the HOUSE!!

It sux that most people are throwing down 500-3000 bux for the system. It sux that I can't have one now at the price that Microsoft set. It sux that Microsoft put out a small number of units...only adding to the hype and the residuals that we the consumer are now dealing with.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...business is inherently evil!
 
Yeah, what ACE said is all entirely true.......Oh, were you waiting for something else??....Sorry!!...Tired and going to bed.
 
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