Susan Berfield and Matthew Boyle writing for Bloomberg Businessweek had an interesting writeup on how Best Buy is bucking the trend in retail and actually thriving despite competition from Amazon.
Bass also turned back to the stores. He started a system that allowed them to fulfill orders via delivery and pickup. Best Buy says 70 percent of Americans live within 15 miles of one of its locations, so it’s been encouraging customers to come collect their orders. Forty percent of the time they do, which “helps my budget a lot,” Bass says. To make those pickups faster, the company is testing an “On My Way” function on its app to ensure customers don’t arrive before their TVs are retrieved from the back of the store. Since 2012 the proportion of its online revenue has more than doubled, from 7 percent of all U.S. sales to 16 percent, well above those at other big-box retailers.
As I wrote last year, Best Buy isn’t going anywhere. There are two sides to retail,bricks-n-mortar stores and catalog. They are both necessary because they fill different needs. Also, there are economic reasons that favor each model. Amazon’s direct-to-customer efficiency doesn’t do anything to change the age-old master logistics equation.
70% of Americans live within 15 miles of a Best Buy store. Best Buy is like Apple in that they posses the ability to interact directly with their customers. In fact, Best Buy is moving beyond Apple and actually visiting with customers in their homes in many markets. And it seems to be paying of handsomely for their stockholders.
As I wrote last year, Best Buy isn’t going anywhere. There are two sides to retail,bricks-n-mortar stores and catalog. They are both necessary because they fill different needs. Also, there are economic reasons that favor each model. Amazon’s direct-to-customer efficiency doesn’t do anything to change the age-old master logistics equation.
70% of Americans live within 15 miles of a Best Buy store. Best Buy is like Apple in that they posses the ability to interact directly with their customers. In fact, Best Buy is moving beyond Apple and actually visiting with customers in their homes in many markets. And it seems to be paying of handsomely for their stockholders.
Of course, as 3D printing matures as a technology a lot of today’s entrenched retail world will start to crumble. And even Amazon will be brought to its knees. 3D printing grabs the master logistics equation, breaks it in two, and proceeds to stomp it on the ground.
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