Amazon neither invented nor appropriated its basic strategies from Best Buy or anyone else. It simply does what consumers want. Best Buy does what would be most convenient for the company for consumers to want but don’t, then crosses its fingers and prays.
(via Forbes)
I’ll be the first one to cast aspersions on the notion of a company doing what it wants customers to want rather than what they really want, but I think it’s a little oversimplified here in order to make a nice neat sound bite. Amazon does what consumers want (and makes sense for their growth/long term customer value/etc. and they can find a profitable model for whether short-or-long-term, and won’t cause their top partners too much angina, etc.), and I am sure decision-makers at Best Buy know certain things it does aren’t what a consumer would choose if given a free choice. I think they want to please customers, and want to evolve their business towards those ends as quickly as possible. As a commenter on Facebook pointed out, the upsell/cross-sell narrative in the article was likely a DirecTV rep, not a Best Buy customer service agent walking the floor aggressively selling their home entertainment offering. It wouldn’t be a huge deal except that’s the framing narrative for the entire piece.
I did have an odd and inefficient experience at Best Buy last week. I was looking for an iPhone 4s as a gift for Molly. When I casually asked if they had any of the model I sought in stock, the rep told me he had “no idea what they have,” and that he’d have to go check the stock room. And to do that he’d have to find the key. I waited about 15 minutes before the keymaster was available, and then he ducked away for a while, and came back and delivered the news that what I wanted wasn’t in stock. I asked when he expected to get more in - he said they didn’t know, orders just “show up.” I asked if we could put money down and go on a waiting list, and he flatly said no. Half-jokingly, I asked if I should just keep calling them every morning then, and he said yes and moved on to another customer.
On the other hand, all retailers are acting a little squirrely on iPhone inventory right now. The Apple Store online tells you your phone will ship in “1-2 weeks,” which is Apple-speak for “soonish?” Amazon seems to only have unlocked iPhone 4s’s, and the AT&T store will give you a little more information on when to expect a shipment but still isn’t up front about how to get in line to own one. I can’t entirely or even mostly attribute the market inefficiency to Best Buy itself.
