...Chapter 5-Best Buy 1 Chapter 5 Best Buy Using Customer Centricity to Connect with Customers Narrator: Best Buy is the world's largest consumer electronics retailer, far ahead of its rivals: Walmart, Circuit City and Costco. Joe Brandt is a service manager at a Best Buy store focused on centricity. Joe Brandt: So much of our business success comes down to understanding consumer behaviors. Female Customer: I'm looking for a laptop. Male Customer: I’m looking for a Bluetooth headset. Female Customer: You can see computer right up, so I know exactly where to go. it was easy. Male Customer: They're definitely customer focused around here. Edie Adaza: The beautiful thing about this one is you can surf the Internet. Joe Brandt: We really focus on getting our employees in the know and being able to described to customers how technology can enhance their lives. We try to make that shopping experience as easy and as simple as possible. Edie Adaza: My name is Edie Adaza. I'm the personal shopping assistant and customer assistant. I opened this store so I'm very proud of this store. If you notice, our aisles are color-coded. It's just basically telling customers where to go, easy access to, let's say, computers, Geek Squad. Joe Brandt: Consumers look at a lot of different things. They look at shopability of the store, how easy it is to navigate the store, how pleasant the employees are, how we are price-wise, and...
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...BEST BUY: USING CUSTOMER CENTRICITY TO CONNECT WITH CUSTOMERS “So much of our business success comes down to understanding consumer behaviour,” explains Joe Brandt, a store service manager at one of Best Buy’s newest stores. “What we do is we try to keep our ear to the railroad tracks. In essence, we listen to the customer to be able to change on a dime when a customer wants us to tailor that experience a certain way and provide certain shopping experiences and certain services.” “Consumers look at a lot of different things,” Joe added. “They look at brands, shopability of the store, how easy it is to navigate the store, how pleasant the employees are, price, and how we take care of the customer.” Overall there are many factors that “customers look at when they’re making a purchase decision.” Best Buy is the world’s largest consumer electronics retailer with 1,172 stores, 140,000 employees, and $35.9 billion in revenue. Its U.S. and Canadian market share is almost 20 percent, far ahead of rivals Wal-Mart and Costco. Best Buy operates superstores which provide a limited number of product categories with great depth within the categories. The retailer sells consumer electronics, home office products, appliances, entertainment software and related services. In addition to its U.S. and Canadian stores, Best Buy has recently opened stores in China and has announced plans to open stores in Puerto Rico, Mexico and Turkey. Best Buy also offers its products online through...
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...Competitive Strategy Best Buy Best Buy Group D9 THEME: How Best Buy has maintained and enhanced its Competitive Advantage over the years by constantly seeking a favorable competitive position in the Consumer Electronics retailing industry 1 Table of Contents Contents Objective of the report Executive Summary Part I – Early beginnings & Hyper-growth Part II – Initiating Change at Best Buy -- Recognizing the need for change -- First attempt at change (formulating the Standard Operating Platform) -- Head-Heart-Hands approach to change management (Overcoming Cognitive Inertia) -- Institutionalizing the Change Management Process (Overcoming Action Inertia) -- Impact of the SOP on the Best Buy's operations Part III - Revisiting the Drawing Board -- Building new skill sets -- Formulating Customer Centricity (deploying a new game strategy) -- Implementing Customer Centricity (reconfiguring the value chain) -- Reaping the gains from Customer Centricity Part IV – Staving off Competition: Click & Mortar model -- Industry going through a phase of Intermediating Change -- Where does Best Buy go from here? -- Experimenting may payoff but need to commit References used Page no 2 3 4-5 5-9 5 6 6-7 7-8 8-9 9-12 9-10 10-11 11 12 13-14 13 13 13-14 15 1 Objective of Report Best Buy Co., Inc has been a leading player in the Electronics & Appliances retailing industry for several years now. It has withstood several cycles of churn in the Industry; seen many of its competitors...
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...Best Buy Co.,Inc: Sustainable Customer Centricity Model Case Study Review Siddarth Anney ID: 573413 Submitted on 10/31/2013 Sound of music, which is known as Best Buy now, is a retail store of consumer electronics having 24 locations with 1,100 stores in US. Best buy adopted the strategy of "Customer Centricity Model" and converting all its stores to adopt Centricity Model is a big task and cost effective. The Centricity Model changed the way how the sales associates worked that is from bringing more sales to understanding customers and answering to their queries. This involved training of sales associates about the products and services that best buy offers. Unlike Walmart's strategy of low-price, Best buy's strategy was service oriented, which made them different from their competitors. Best buy started to expand its market and differentiate its products through acquisitions, It took advantage of its economies of scale, for example Magnolia Hi-Fi inc provided home theater systems and for the installation it took help of geek squad. Best buy expanded its network internationally too by acquisition of Future Shop in Canada and Jiangsu five star appliances in China. The American customer satisfaction index shows that best buy increased its numbers from 2001 to 2012 (acsi,2013) telling us that best buy has good customer satisfaction through out the years. Best buy though was good in customer satisfaction but had certain...
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...Best Buy Co., Inc. Sustainable Customer Centricity Model Case Study Analysis Amber Keita ADMIN404 November 16, 2013 Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction and Company Overview 4 Mandate 4 Core Purpose 4 Vision & Major Goals 5 Core Values & Guiding Principles 5 Stakeholder Analysis 6 External Analysis 7 Opportunities 7 Economies of Scale 7 Complementors 7 Global Expansion 8 Threats 8 The Internet 8 Big Competition 9 Government Regulation 9 Internal Analysis 10 Strengths 10 No Commission Sales 10 Customer Centricity Model 10 Broad Market Coverage 11 Multiple Product Lines 11 Weaknesses 12 High Debt – Low Cash 12 Pricing Pressures 12 Legal Issues 13 Short Product Life Cycles 13 References 14 Exhibits 15 Executive Summary Best Buy Co., Inc. is a leading retailer of consumer electronics in the U.S. and Canada with nearly 4,000 stores worldwide. Among the extensive range of products marketed, are mobile phones, televisions, gaming systems, appliances and computers, along with all of their components and accessories. The company pursues a differentiation strategy based on excellent customer service, no commission, highly informed sales staff, and a plethora of end-to-end services. Best Buy was started in 1966, and has acquired seven companies in the path of its growth, all of which either provide a complementary service and/or additional products for its customers. The external analysis identifies...
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...Case Study Analysis Best Buy Co., Inc: Sustainable Customer Centricity Model November 13, 2012 Best Buy is the largest national electronics chain and the only one that remains since the closing of Circuit City in 2009 and Comp USA before that. Founded in St Paul, Minnesota in 1966 as the Sound of Music Store, it was rebranded as Best Buy in 1983 with a single flagship store in Burnsville, Minnesota. By 1993, Best Buy had become the United States second-largest consumer electronics retailer, breaking into Fortune magazine’s annual ranking of top 500 companies two years later at number 373. A partnership with Microsoft in 1999 help to boost the company’s profile and lead to the opening of its first retail store in Shanghai which was followed by stores in Canada, Mexico, Turkey, and nine European countries (Lowe, 2008 May 8). Best currently operates 1,105 big box stores in the United States. In addition to personal computers, computer equipment, and consumer video and audio products, Best Buy outlets, which are on average 44,000 square feet in size, also offer large and small appliances, and entertainment software that includes DVD’s, compact discs, video games, and computer software (Funding Universe, n.d.). Best Buy’s subsidiaries include Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and in Canada, it operates under both the Best Buy and Future Shop labels. Best Buy differentiates itself from its closest competitors, Walmart and Amazon.com, by not...
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...Case Study Best Buy. . .Best Job 1. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of Best Buy’s different employee programs using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, reinforcement theory, and expectancy theory. Students will have a variety of responses here. They should focus on two advantages and disadvantages for each of these three motivational theories. Students may tend to see more advantages, given the type of culture and management style at Best Buy. Remind students that “motivational programs” and “individual needs” are specific to individuals. This question provides an excellent opportunity to discuss the importance of managerial flexibility. 2. Log onto Best Buy’s Career Center on the Internet at [http://careers.bestbuy.com]. Click on two job titles listed there and assess these jobs according to the job characteristics model. If your classroom has Internet capabilities, you may want to access this site with your students during class. First, go to Best Buy’s Career Center at [http://careers.bestbuy.com]; next, click on the “Corporate” link. Students will select different jobs in response to this question in order to view a typical workday in the life of individuals who hold one of the jobs. Regardless of the jobs selected, students should list an element from the job characteristics model and follow that format for their analysis. 3. Design an employee recognition program that might fit in with Best Buy’s managerial philosophy. To be effective, the program...
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...satisified in what we knew. We also found that we tended to look for the best price after we had done the necessary research. We also found that if it was a bigger decision like a computer or higher ticket product we would study out the product more, but if it were a lower ticket iteam we worked more on inpulse. We belive that this holds true for the whole of the consumer world. Most of us before purchasing wanted to either use the product or try it to ensure that we liked what we were about to buy. Most of us found that Best Buy satisfied this end very well. Best Buy constatly has products out of the package so that you can play around with the product before you buy it. This helps their marketing plan, because as they sell you they can show you what the product does and why it is helpful for your needs. We all found this very helpful and even helped us to become more educated in our purchase as well as begin some loyality to Best Buy. As stated in the text book many consumers buy based on past experience, price and service. The consumers first create a want of the product and this is what Best Buy specilizes in, creating and satisfying the want. When looking at the Characterstics of the Consumer Purchase Decision process in the book, Best Buy has a high to a routine problem solving pattern. Best Buy has many brands that they represent, also due to their Geek Squad they tend to focus on making sure the customer is satisfied with their purchase. They do the necessary research...
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...Best Buy Co, Inc.: Sustainable Customer Centricity Model Student’s Name Affiliation Course Date Resources (i) Tangible resources Best Buy is one of the world largest multi-channel consumer electronics retailer in the world with several stores in Mexico, US, UK, Canada and China .Tangible resources are very important to Best Buy. For example, they have right number of stores each with up to date furnishings. It’s technology oriented with consumer electronics as of one the major key resource of the company. The stores have a long supply chain of electronic devices and dominate the brick and mortar online market. TVs and Audio, Cars and GPS, Camera and camcorders, Computers, Video games and gadgets, office electronics and home appliances are some of the products of found in the outlets of Best Buy Company. The outlets also have Geek Squad capabilities to provide installation services and product repairs (Charles et al, 2012). (ii) Human resources One of the key non tangible assets of the company is the human resource. Over the past few years the company has transformed itself into a more customer centric company with more than 140,000 employees who engage with close to 1.6 billion customers in their stores, online or via mobile. Their strong brand presence has established through their knowledgeable staff, which in...
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...12 BEST BUY CO. INC.: SUSTAINABLE CUSTOMER CENTRICITY MODEL? 12 BEST BUY CO. INC.: SUSTAINABLE CUSTOMER CENTRICITY MODEL? CASE # 3 Best Buy Co. Inc.: Sustainable Customer Centricity Model? MGT403 Strategic Management Prepared for Tanvir H DeWan Coordinator of College of Business IUBAT Prepared by Serial Number | Name | ID | 01 | Shahriar Rawshon (Group Leader) | 09102095 | 02 | Md. Zakiruzzaman | 09102151 | 03 | Suchona Akter Swarna | 09102163 | 04 | Shahara Akter Eva | 09102156 | 05 | Kanij Fatama | 09102165 | 06 | Ruksana Aktar | 09102130 | 07 | Md. Al Amin | 09302012 | Section: B International University of Business Agriculture and Technology Date of Submission: 29th May, 2012 Current Situation: Best Buy was a specialty retailer of consumer electronics. It operated over 1,100 stores in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. With approximately 155,000 employees, it also operated over 2,800 stores in Canada, Mexico, China, and Turkey. The company’s subsidiaries included Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, and Pacific Sales. In Canada, Best Buy operated under both the Best Buy and Future Shop labels. From a strategic standpoint, Best Buy moved from being a discount retailer (a low price strategy) to a service-oriented firm that relied on a differentiation strategy. In 1989, Best Buy changed the compensation structure for sales associates from commission-based to non- commissioned-based, which resulted in consumers...
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...ADMIN 404 STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Assignment one Best Buy Co. Inc : Sustainable Customer Centricity Model? Executive Summary Best Buy is a multinational retailer of consumer electronics. It operates as a retail store and online operations under several brand names in multiple countries, USA, Canada, Mexico, China and Europe. In Canada it operates under Future shop and Best buy names, offering in five revenue categories: Consumer electronics, Computing and Mobile phones, Entertainment, Services and other. Best buy’s mission is to become the leading multi-channel retailer by serving their customers and making a meaningful difference in their lives. Introduction and company overview Incorporated in Minnesota USA in 1966 as Sound of Music, Inc., Best Buy today is a multi-national, multi-channel retailer of technology products, including tablets, computers, televisions, mobile phones, large and small appliances, digital imaging and related accessories. It employs approximately 140,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal employees worldwide, it offers to its employees company-paid, full benefits that vary from location to location. Best buy’s success relies on the design and execution of appropriate business strategies. Best buy’s current strategy includes transformational change to many areas of business including online and in-store customer experience, employee-engagement, partnership with vendors and cost control, these strategies were adopted since 2012 as a result...
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...1. Clearly map how EMC has executed customer centricity by providing illustrations of how it differs from a product centric focus on several key dimensions e.g. customer orientation, value proposition etc. (20 points) EMC attributed its success to its "fanatical devotion" to their customers. Customer centricity has been part of their business model since 1988. The company developed specific strategies to differentiate themselves from their competitors. At the heart of this strategy is the Total Customer Experience. This includes understanding “what the customers valued most and then find(ing) the most efficient and cost-effective ways to deliver it.” It ensures “that the customer’s voice informed every decision.” 1) Example of customer orientation. There was a point at the start of the company where EMC, as well as, others were delivering systems that used disk drives supplied by a certain third-party vendor. Problems with these drives were discovered, and the competing companies shifted responsibility of the issue to the third-party vendor. Surprisingly, these companies continued to manufacture the systems that included the same defective drives, and only made repairs if customers complained. EMC was the only company that discontinued the use of the faulty units. The company went above and beyond by contacting all customers who received a system with defective drives, and offered to provide a new system from EMC or one from IBM. IBM was the only other manufacturer who was...
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...Best Buy has four methods they used to approach the market. They created a plan to gain profits and increase their customer base. By using the four strategic initiatives, they were positive they were going to win the customer over and a purchase would be made prior to leaving the store. The four strategic initiatives are customer centricity, efficient enterprise, win with service and win in entertainment to target customers. In using the customer centricity approach, all of the stores were transformed to be more customer friendly. That was geared by satisfying the needs of the customers. The signs outside of the stores were changed to bold and bright colors that stood out and could be seen for miles. Fixtures and lighting were also changed in the stores to be more energy efficient. Bright and bold colored shirts became a part of the employee’s uniforms and personal shoppers were added to some segments, In this case, the customer could call and make an appointment and a customer assistant would be available to meet their needs during their visit. Efficient enterprise was used by keeping up with the competitors and new technology. By opening additional stores, their customer sales would increase, it would gain the attention of new customers and better service would be offered to existing customers. In the win with service approach, the company offers specialty services to the customers. Say for instance, installation of home theater equipment and home computers...
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...BEST BUY [pic] [pic] Making Life Fun & Easy! [pic] Tiago Alves Andrew Bornstein Mae Brana Grace Tan Meredith Walters Table of Contents Business Summary 2 Vision Statement & Corporate Values 2 Rankings 2 Market Share 3 Stock Chart – 5 Year Performance 3 Financial Highlights 4 History 5 Key Executives 6 Strategy 7 Customer Centricity 7 Value-added Services Business 9 Supply Chain and IT Systems 9 New Store Openings 10 Mergers & Acquisitions 10 Employees 11 Key Competitors 12 5-Year Performance vs Key Competitors 13 Appendix 14 Business Summary Best Buy is a specialty retailer of consumer electronics, home-office products, entertainment software, appliances and related services in a superstore format. It operates retail stores and commercial Web sites in the U.S., Canada and China, under the brand names Best Buy (BestBuy.com and BestBuyCanada.ca), Future Shop (FutureShop.ca), Magnolia Audio Video (MagnoliaAV.com) and Geek Squad (GeekSquad.com and GeekSquad.ca). As of Feb 25 2006, Best Buy operated 742 Best Buy stores, 20 Magnolia Audio Video stores and 12 Geek Squad stores in the U.S.; and 118 Future Shop stores, 44 Best Buy stores and five Geek Squad stores in Canada. Best Buy operates two reportable segments: Domestic and International. The Domestic segment is comprised of all U.S. store and online operations, including Best Buy, Magnolia Audio Video and Geek Squad....
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...Running Head: CUSTOMER CENTRALITY Customer Centrality [Name of the Writer] [Name of the Institution] Table of Content Part A 1 Introduction 1 Discussion 1 Interaction Response Capacity 3 Customer Empowerment 3 Customer Value Management 4 Customer Centricity 5 Evolution of Customer Centricity 7 Path to Customer Centricity 9 Customer Initiated Contacts and Competitive Intensity 14 Conclusion 15 Part B 16 References 20 Customer Centrality Part A Introduction The roots of customer centricity can be traced all the way back to the late 1960s, when a relatively obscure ad agency executive by the name of Lester Wunderman gave birth to the idea that we know today as direct marketing. Many of the concepts you'll read about in this book, including the basic overarching notion that businesses would be well served to know absolutely everything about their best customers, are derived in some way from the ideas of Wunderman, who understood long before anyone else the value of keeping records (frighteningly detailed records, actually) about customer buying habits. What is new, however, is the competitive landscape and the incredibly demanding world in which you and your company are doing business. Today, more than ever before, many companies need customer centricity. They need it to compete in the short term and thrive in the long term. Discussion ...
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