We’ve all heard the name Geek Squad before. Most of us know what they do, maybe some have even taken advantage of the services they offer, but how did it get to be the household name it is today? Founder of the company, Robert Stephens, was, like all entrepreneurs, faced with an abundance of challenges before and after starting his business. Stephens was also given a great opportunity with the beginning of a trend toward personal computers when he started his business. In fact, Geek Squad had become so successful that it was brought to the attention of Best Buy, which purchased the company from Stephens in 2002 to combat some issues they thought that Geek Squad would be able to fix for them. Although they have been extremely successful up to this point, Geek Squad will need to stay ahead of the game to continue to do so, with the rapidly growing and ever changing technological world. When Robert Stephens was studying computer science, he also worked fixing computers for a research laboratory, and started consulting as well. While consulting he realized that most people needed help using and/or fixing their personal computer. In 1994 when Stephens started the company, it was in high demand because of the increase in the use of the personal computer (PC). The people not only wanted someone to help with their computer problems, but also be on time and help them understand what the problem really is, all while being friendly. When Best Buy purchased Geek Squad in 2002 for $3 million, it wasn’t without reason. Best Buy had been observing some very high return rates for most of its complex products, due to the customer not taking the time to understand how to use them. While this was a major problem for them, women were also a driving factor for this acquisition. Best Buy noticed that more and more women were getting into the personal electronics market, and that when most women purchased a product from them, they expected personal service during the purchase and installation of the product. To continue to be as successful as they are, Geek Squad will need to continually scan their environment to keep up with new trends socially, economically, technologically, competitively, and regulatory. The following trends are just a few things that may affect Geek Squad in the near future:
• Social: Geek Squad employees are offered a “results-only work environment” in which they have no set schedule or mandatory meetings which allows them to make their own decisions.
• Economic: The falling prices of many consumer electronics may create less of a demand for Geek Squad services, unless they lower the price or create a new type of service for those products.
• Technological: Tablets are a trend still on the rise, so Geek Squad may do well to offer more services geared towards tablets to remain up-to-date.
• Competitive: Some of Best Buy’s major competitors such as Staples and Office Depot are offering similar services to Geek Squad, which creates the need for Geek Squad to innovate to stay ahead of the competition.
• Regulatory: Laws such as the protected transfer of electronic copyrighted material must be observed, so Geek Squad must keep up on current laws to be able to comply with them.
While Geek Squad is a well-known company today, it still needs to let potential customers know about the services they offer, as to draw their business away from independent installers. A good way to do this may be a television advertisement, showing the customer how their service works and how the Geek Squad “agents” dress and what type of car they drive, giving the customer a feeling they’re being assisted by true professionals. Also advertising their service in store at the time of purchase at a Best Buy location would cause the customer to have a first-hand look at how they could be assisted in a time of need. Geek Squad is a company that started in a time of great potential for a company in their field, and still has that same great potential today with the increasingly rapid technological changes. Robert Stephens and Best Buy have brought the company from $200 to a company that now brings in $1 billion of revenue, and this is because of their constant awareness of their environment. As long as they continue on the path they’re on now, Geek Squad could continue to grow alongside the technology which it fixes.