'Best Buy' in the UK

[Mattt]

I see that they are starting off in the UK in Spring 2010 - could this mean lower prices? Or probably no difference.

Possibly one for Der.

[Office_Monkey]

I believe that they are trying to compete with the likes of DSG. From what I can gather, they are going to combine decently trained staff (all the managers go off to Seattle especially for training - not sure if this is techy stuff or cust service though) and (hopefully) lower prices.
BB are huge in the states - they paid £1Bn for half of CPW, so should have some decent economies of scale.

[Beardy10]

Best Buy are a serious retailer and will prove very serious competition for DSG...be interesting to see if DSG are still in business in five years. Long terms their business looked very iffy anyway.

[crmcatee]

What we want here is Fry's and their Friday afternoon sales...

[Dick Sternum]

This is cool news if it happens. Always been impressed with Best Buy stores when I travel to the States. Way better than DSG stores in the UK.

[BigBen]

crmcatee said:

What we want here is Fry's and their Friday afternoon sales...

Yes that is exactly what we need Frys is ace. Best Buy is essentially the same as DSG so I don't expect much.

[Plotloss]

Office_Monkey said:

and (hopefully) lower prices.

As of course, nothing else matters...

[Office_Monkey]

Plotloss said:

Office_Monkey said:

and (hopefully) lower prices.

As of course, nothing else matters...

Lower prices aren't everything The main benefit will be an improved customer experience from what I hear (admittedly the company isn't likely to say otherwise).
If BB can provide this at a lower cost, then I see this as a good thing for the average consumer. Some people prefer the more personal touch, others just want cheaper prices, and others various shades of grey in between.

[gbbird]

Office_Monkey said:

Plotloss said:

Office_Monkey said:

and (hopefully) lower prices.

As of course, nothing else matters...

Lower prices aren't everything The main benefit will be an improved customer experience from what I hear (admittedly the company isn't likely to say otherwise).
If BB can provide this at a lower cost, then I see this as a good thing for the average consumer. Some people prefer the more personal touch, others just want cheaper prices, and others various shades of grey in between.

Nowadays I think lower prices are pretty much 'everything' when it comes to consumer behavior in this sector. Yes, some will still stick with certain retailers out of loyalty, plus others will still want the 'personal touch', but as more and more consumers are becoming knowledgable in home entertainment equipment and set up (very easy now with the internet, magazines and detailed yet understandable equipment manuals etc) i believe the need for the 'personal touch' is diminishing so is therefore no longer a valid justification for higher prices.

The key challenge for retailers is to offer the personal touch to the minority who need it, yet still keep prices low and competiitve for all. From my experience this can be done, and there are one or two retailers out there who successfully do this.

Or I guess an option would be to keep prices low 'blanket style', yet offer a personal service at an additional premium for those who need it.

[Silver993tt]

Office_Monkey said:

Plotloss said:

Office_Monkey said:

and (hopefully) lower prices.

As of course, nothing else matters...

Lower prices aren't everything The main benefit will be an improved customer experience from what I hear (admittedly the company isn't likely to say otherwise).
If BB can provide this at a lower cost, then I see this as a good thing for the average consumer. Some people prefer the more personal touch, others just want cheaper prices, and others various shades of grey in between.

Best Buy in the US provide very low prices AND great customer service & knowledge of the products they sell. After all, most of the electronics sold by these kind of companies (cameras, phones, PCs, LCD & Plasma TVs) are all commodity products anyway. About time someone like this came to the UK to shake up the market for these goods which are still way overpriced in many 'specialist' outlets.

Edited by Silver993tt on Monday 21st December 09:00

[Odie]

Yep best buy is pretty good, went in one a while ago when in canada looking for a camera, very good customer service & good prices.


On a side note i went into my local comet on friday (the last friday before christmas) it was empty... Prices where way off the mark too.