Free Essay About Future Of Retail And Best Buy

One of the leading examples of customers shifting from physical stores to the internet is Best Buy, the USA multinational customer electronics company with headquarters in Richfield, Minnesota. The firm closed 15 stores in Canada two years ago, confirming what was already suspected, that it is struggling to survive in a world where e-commerce becomes the rule and not the exception. A widely held notion is that customers visit Best Buy to simply check out the products and return to their homes in order to purchase them from Amazon and I think that this statement responds to the truth, having in mind that Best Buy was titled "Company of the Year" by Forbes in 2004 and eleven years later has a negative revenue of US$ 42.41 billion and June 2014 was the 10th quarter in a row where the company’s sales had decreased .
As a result, Best Buy shows apparent signs of clearly and irrevocably losing the retail game to Amazon.com. So far, the firm’s marketing plan has been a failure with retail movement declining, but on the bright side the company managed to support their customers’ visits to their physical stores using tools of advertising marketing. Personal marketing campaigns could play a crucial role towards getting their customers to return knowing that they can get fast shipping and good prices through the internet as well. Another game changer could be shifting Best Buy’s business model towards wholesaling. It is true that the firm was –from its first audio specialty store- founded and ran for almost 50 years focused on the retail sector, but a new business model emphasizing on providing retail stores with electronics could be the answer to Best Buy’s puzzle. Finally, falling into the”Amazon” trap –trying to antagonize Amazon on prices and fast shipping as Best Buy now does- could be a big mistake because Best Buy’s main chance online could very well be the capacity to link in a unique way online and in-store sales. While their biggest competitor, Amazon, will keep on wining the “low price battle” most of the time, the firm can win on the “experience battle”.

Bibliography

Minneapolis, N. N. (2014). Best Buy looks to new products to push sales. Minneapolis News.Net.
Staff, C. (2013, January 31). CTV News. Ανάκτηση February 15, 2015, από CTV News: http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/best-buy-closing-15-stores-slashing-staff-in-canada-1.1137420