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Why Best Buy is Going out of Business...Gradually
forbes.com ^ | 1/02/2012 | Larry Downes

Posted on 01/02/2012 9:56:28 AM PST by Las Vegas Dave

Electronics retailer Best Buy is headed for the exits. I can’t say when exactly, but my guess is that it’s only a matter of time, maybe a few more years.

Consider a few key metrics. Despite the disappearance of competitors including Circuit City, the company is losing market share. Its last earnings announcement disappointed investors. In 2011, the company’s stock has lost 40% of its value. It’s forward P/E is a mere 6.23 (industry average is 10.20). Its market cap down to less than $9 billion. Its average analyst rating, according to The Street.com, is a B-.

Those are just some of the numbers, and they don’t look good. They bear out a prediction in March from the Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column, which forecast “the worst is yet to come” for Best Buy investors. 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. Though the company accounts for almost a third of all U.S. consumer electronics purchases, analysts noted, the company remains a ripe target for more nimble competitors.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: bestbuy; electronics; hdtv; retail; trends
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To: need_auto_help
Which means that they lavish their attention on women & minorities, but won't give [heterosexual] white males so much as the time of day.

Would that it were so! I'm straight, white, AND male, and I've never been so fortunate as to escape their predations.

41 posted on 01/02/2012 10:29:59 AM PST by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: G Larry
I think you raise a good point.

I'm not a big fan of online shopping, and I rarely, if ever, go into a retail store without walking out with something that I purchased. It's not that I'm a compulsive shopper, either . . . it's simply that I don't bother going to a retail store unless I have something I need to buy.

My prediction is that some of these traditional retailers are going to get a chance at a "second life" when online sales are subject to taxation. It's only a matter of time before this happens, in my opinion.

42 posted on 01/02/2012 10:30:25 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("If you touch my junk, I'm gonna have you arrested.")
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To: Las Vegas Dave
What I appreciate about Best Buy and brick and mortar is that I can see and touch the merchandise. I can browse the rows of movies till I remember the movie that I really wanted, even though it came out 30 years ago. I can't do that online very well. Also, I can see a closeup of the electronics, instead of relying on a postage stamp-sized image online. I don't always recognize whether I need 1/8" in or out or what A/V outputs and XLRs I'll need, but I feel more comfortable being able to see those interfaces on the product in the store. And then I can make sure I buy the right cables.

I will miss Best Buy when they go under.

43 posted on 01/02/2012 10:30:58 AM PST by rabidralph
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To: mathluv

In the article, the kind of customer -insensitivity- you mention is presented as typical of the whole organization.


44 posted on 01/02/2012 10:32:26 AM PST by Psalm 144 (Voodoo Republicans: Don't read their lips - watch their hands.)
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To: Las Vegas Dave

I only buy my computers there because I can take it in if needed or return if warranted. I’m afraid to order online - what if something happens?


45 posted on 01/02/2012 10:33:10 AM PST by peggybac
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Comment #46 Removed by Moderator

To: GOPyouth

Eventually you will no longer have that option when all the B&M locations are shuttered.

Retailers everywhere have the same problem, how to adjust to the pricing realities of internet shopping (and mobile phone apps that let you compare prices while standing in the aisle).


47 posted on 01/02/2012 10:33:50 AM PST by Valpal1 (Worst tyranny is to force a man to pay for what he does not want because you think it good for him.)
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To: need_auto_help

Lakeway TX.


48 posted on 01/02/2012 10:34:38 AM PST by basil (It's time to rid the country of "gun free zones" aka "Killing Fields")
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To: Las Vegas Dave
What he wrote about Amazon is 100% true. I'd been buying books, CDs, and small items there since about 2000, always very happy, but was always very hesitant to but a big ticket item..figuring there'd be a problem if something went wrong..

May 2008, I decided to take a chance, ordered a Sony Bravia 52" from them. They had a great deal, it was $1999 ( super price back then..free shipping, and of course, no sales tax...couldn't find any retailer that could even come close to the price.

The set's delivered exactly when it's supposed to arrive, they even called a few hours early to confirm that I'd be home. The next day, the cable guy arrives...I'm not really god with this stuff, and my cable provider..BriteHouse, offers free installation and hook up of any new sets..and I give the guy a tip, and he hooks up the DVD for me as well, and goes through all the start up stuff.. Well, the TV doesn't work..no picture...I'm starting to worry..we call Amazon, the connect me to Sony technical support...happily for me the cable guy is still there to talk to Sony..as they trouble shoot...they figure out something is broken inside the set, and Sony tells me they can have a repair guy out to my place in two days to fix it. I call Amazon back..tell them I'm not happy, instantly, before I can say anythign more, the guy says they will ship me a new set..it will be there in three days, and they will pick up the damgaged one at the same time..I'm amazed..and very happy...and to this day I order everythign and anythign from Amazon without any worry whatsoever..

Anyone have any experience with HH Gregg..one just opened near me..and a half mle from from the Best Buy...they're supposed to be pretty good...their sales staff isn't commission based..

49 posted on 01/02/2012 10:35:28 AM PST by ken5050 (Support Admin Mods: Doing the tough, hard, dirty jobs that Americans won't do...)
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To: Alberta's Child

“My prediction is that some of these traditional retailers are going to get a chance at a “second life” when online sales are subject to taxation.”

Bingo. There are some things online shopping just cannot do either. Used bookstores, for example. Yes, of course you can get used books, but you cannot wander into some dark, odd shop with leaning towers of fusty books and a cat sleeping in the window, while you search for some serendipitous prize.


50 posted on 01/02/2012 10:35:39 AM PST by Psalm 144 (Voodoo Republicans: Don't read their lips - watch their hands.)
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To: Semper911

Online you can find exactly what you want and need. At Best Buy — not so much.
+++++++++++
And if you find it BB can’t compete on price.

Example: My dream 65” Panasonic VT30 plasma - $2820 shipped from Amazon with price matching and about $3240 from Best Buy carry home with sales tax (about $240). Best Internet price I have seen: $2640 including shipping.


51 posted on 01/02/2012 10:37:10 AM PST by InterceptPoint (TIN)
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To: Las Vegas Dave

I bought a computer there, along with extended warranty. When the computer broke, they didn’t know my name. That warranty was a third party vendor, I had to deal directly with them, yada yada yada.

A few years later, I went again - looking for a wireless router. They had two models, and I asked an employee what the difference was. Answer: “That one is 50 dollars, and the other one is 80 dollars”. Gee thanks.


52 posted on 01/02/2012 10:39:58 AM PST by lacrew (Mr. Soetoro, we regret to inform you that your race card is over the credit limit.)
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To: peggybac
I only buy my computers there because I can take it in if needed or return if warranted. I’m afraid to order online - what if something happens?

Whatever happens, it can't possibly be worse than being at the mercy of BB's Dork Squad.

53 posted on 01/02/2012 10:40:38 AM PST by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: bigdaddy45

You are right. However, I have found Best Buy (and earlier Comp*USA) to be a God-send when I needed something right away. If I needed a monitor, hard drive, video card NOW, I could go to Best Buy and get them.

Their appliance department, however, is useless. The car add-on department, muscled out by fully-loaded new cars and boutique shops for the high-end buyer. DVDs and CDs? Obliterated by downloadables. Phones? Competitive, but no real advantage over the carriers’ stores, Radio Shack, and Apple Stores.

A big store like that can’t be carried by PC sales and service alone.


54 posted on 01/02/2012 10:41:22 AM PST by Dr. Sivana (May Mitt Romney be the Mo Udall of 2012.)
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To: Las Vegas Dave
Do not like Best Buy. I got a gift certificate to go to one this Christmas and then realized I never used the one I got last year. The whole experience in Best Buy sucks from the parking lot to the checkout lines. The employee turnover must be high because it seems everybody I run into there appears to be in training or brand new. They wander around the store like zombies, almost like they are trying to avoid the customers. When I do find one of them to ask a question about a certain product, I usually find that I know more about the product then they do and I'm not even a techie.

Seems to me that it is all about high volume at low margin and that is always a recipe for poor customer service. No matter what you buy there, they try to sell you an extended warranty on it and they get visibly perturbed when you turn it down. That must be where all their profit (and commission) comes from.

It's a sad statement about America. Consumers want to pay the lowest price possible so that forces companies to operate on such a slim margin that the only way for them to stay in business is to cut their operating expenses to the bone. That means low-paid, unmotivated employees and a near-total absence of customer service.

55 posted on 01/02/2012 10:41:58 AM PST by SamAdams76 (I am 36 days away from outliving Marty Feldman)
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To: KoRn

for me it is simple... they do not back their products... you could buy something, take it to the parking lot, try it and find it defective, walk back into the store ( the receipt will still be warm ) and they will not refund or exchange it... they will send it out for service, for just a nominal fee... screw them


56 posted on 01/02/2012 10:42:22 AM PST by joe fonebone (Project Gunwalker, this will make watergate look like the warm up band......)
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To: gogogodzilla

“Televisions are about the only electronic item that I still need to see work in person.”

Same here, and I did purchase a Sony Bravia from Best Buy as well as an iTouch.

My Best Buy usually has lot of open parking spaces in front of it, but it managed to reserve a parking spot for “Fuel Efficient” green cars. Have never seen a reserved spot like that before. What’s up with that?


57 posted on 01/02/2012 10:43:28 AM PST by A'elian' nation (Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred. Jacques Barzun)
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To: need_auto_help

“...or the Gestapo/KGB tactics at Sam’s Club.”

What do you mean when you say that? What happened?


58 posted on 01/02/2012 10:43:58 AM PST by MplsSteve (Amy Klobuchar is no moderate. She's Al Franken with a nicer smile.)
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To: Las Vegas Dave

With the shape the economy is in, 3D televisions are not in the forefront of most peoples minds.


59 posted on 01/02/2012 10:44:15 AM PST by Minutemen ("It's a Religion of Peace")
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To: Las Vegas Dave

Best Buy goes Good Bye!


60 posted on 01/02/2012 10:44:33 AM PST by iowamark
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