With Circuit City and Tweeter out of the picture, it appears that Walmart is throwing down the gauntlet to Best Buy.
Prolific Walmart, assuming its new role as the No. 2 electronics retailer in the United States, intends to come out swinging. It has “ratcheted up its once-tiny selection of big-brand television sets, video games and mobile phones to become a fierce contender,” according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.
Best Buy seems to have two options:
Since Walmart has a track record of winning price battles, Best Buy told WSJ it’s choosing option No. 2.
To many who have shopped at Best Buy, this is an odd development. Instead of Best Buy playing the “big box” role to specialty competitors like Tweeter, Best Buy says it will assume a specialty role to combat an even bigger big-box store.
The result is a Bizzaro consumer electronics retail industry.
It’s not easy to picture Best Buy playing the specialty role. Meanwhile, recent reports by CE Pro, Electronic House and StarTribune.com make it even more difficult. Reportedly, Best Buy is slashing pay rates for thousands of sales people, including its Magnolia Home Theater specialty division.
The pay reduction doesn’t seem to gel with a goal to elevate the customer experience. Moves like that have a way of encouraging experienced sales people to leave the company, altering customers’ store experiences. Just ask Tweeter and Circuit City, both of which tinkered with lowering sales staff salaries before ultimately going out of business.
Despite the WSJ report, it remains to be seen whether or not Best Buy truly intends to elevate its shopping experience. If it does, it will be a good thing for consumers interested in higher-end electronics, according to Home Entertainment Source (HES), a buying group of 500-plus specialty electronics dealers.
Best Buy taking on a more consultative, interactive model, would spur product innovation says HES executive director Jim Ristow. “If Best Buy can step into the mid- to upper-space, that will keep our space viable,” Ristow speculates.
On the other hand, Ristow worries that that if only a small sub-section — high-end custom dealers — promote specialty audio/video, “vendors will stop making those sorts of products.”
So the gauntlet has been laid. Let’s see how Best Buy responds.
You really need to decide where your priorities are before buying electronics from Walmart or the internet. When you do that you are basically saying that money is the most important thing to you and you are willing to give up quality and customer service, a knowledgeable sales staff means nothing to you and you don’t mind that in order to get that super low price you bought a piece of crap that cost 10 cents to make in another country. This is probably a bit of an exaggeration but just a bit. Consumers drive what happens in our economy. When your decisions are led by your pocketbook only you need to make sure you consider the effect.
Do people still buy electronics from best buy??
The only thing i would buy from them is a dishwasher or other similar appliance.
I dont even buy dvd’s there anymore.
Most intelligent people will buy electronics from mailorder websites that offer better pricing, no tax, and usually free shipping.
Despite all the talk of good people leaving the company, I went to one today to discuss major appliances (washer/dryer and a fridge). The employee there spent a good 45 minutes demoing products, pros and cons of each brand and answering all my questions. I left the store very impressed.
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The Comcast acquisition of NBC is rather interesting. Comcast makes money from selling… 
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Tom, Hope you never have any questions about your purchases, because most of the people on the internet answering your calls, don’t know anything about the products. And half have a language barrier. You are a prime example of why “brick & mortar” stores are closing. No LOYALTY, just price, price, price!