Go to www.bestbuy.com, click on the investor relations section (i.e., Four Our Investors), and explore Best Buy’s latest annual reports and 10-K (SEC) filings to see if you can identify the key elements of Bust Buy’s strategy.
Provide an overview of Best Buy and use the framework provided in Figure 1.1 to help identify the key elements of Best Buy 's strategy.
One of the key element of Best Buy’s success is its competitive advantage. Competitive advantage as stated by Thompson et al. (2012) is the “ability to meet customers needs more effectively, with products or services that customers value more highly, or more efficiently, at lower cost; (p. 6). Best Buy has always taken an innovative approach to retailing. The company is
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But Best Buy’s list of qualifying competitors, including 19 websites in price matching policy. So even if a customer can’t count on their deals being the best tomorrow, they will have a better chance at Best Buy of getting the best price today.
Is the strategy resulting in better company performance?
The price matching policy was made permanent in March of 2013, so it is hard to say how the company is doing within a few short months in regard to this pricing policy. Best Buy business model is particularly vulnerable to online shopping. The easy availability of technology and electronics products online has already led to the downfall of competitors like Circuit City and CompUSA. Most products available at Best Buy are easily available from other retailers, and while some consumers may need hands on assistance in making purchases, many do not and will take their business elsewhere if they can find a better deal. In my opinion it would be hard for Best Buy create this policy especially going up against giant retailers such as Amazon, where their operation cost is much lower than that of Best Buy and radically Amazon is more of a diverse business. With its low earnings it seem like Best Buy doesn’t have a lot of room to maneuver, and this pricing policy can’t be sustained over the long run.
Thompson, A. A., Peteraf, M. A., Gamble, J. E., & Strickland III, A. (2012). Crafting and executing strategy the quest for competitive advantage concepts
A host of internal and external factors plays an important role in the organizational structure and process. The opportunities for Best Buy are economies of scale, targeting new market segmentation and global expansion. Strong competition, growth in online sales and the new developments in government regulation are the threat for the Best Buy. Competitions in the electronics industry are based on several factors such as price, quality, durability, product features, customer preferences and warranties. With the advancement in the ecommerce and internet, Best Buy acquired many internet
Best Buy is a multinational retailer of consumer electronics, computing and mobile phone products, entertainment products, appliances, and related services. The company operates retail stores and call centers and conducts online retail operations under a variety of brand names such as Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile, The Carphone Warehouse, Five Star, Future Shop, Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and The Phone House (Bestbuy.com, 4). The domestic segment consists of all operations within the United States, while the international segment includes all operations in Canada, Europe, Mexico, and China. The Best Buy 's success is contingent on the market 's demand for electronics. The company 's strategy is to provide good customer service combined with lower prices (news.cnet.com). Best Buy 's success is directly related to economic conditions, the cost of goods, and other things like fuel prices. The company 's strategy depends upon the ability to offer customers a broad selection of name-brand products; therefore, leading its success to depend upon satisfactory supplier relationships (Bestbuy.com, 8). Best Buy, as it is included in the retail segment, is a seasonal store. Their stronger quarter is the fourth quarter, which they can contribute to the holiday season for their success.
In the Millennium year, Best Buy launched “Bestbuy.com”, and diversified products, which includes large appliances, Hi-Tech products, and digital contents were sold online.
Hhgregg, Inc. is an electronics store company that is worthy of investing in for a multitude of reasons. The history of hhgregg indicates that they place a strong emphasis on customer service, which is why they are so successful. Hhgregg also has many important initiatives for the future, such as redesigning all of their stores, continuously retraining employees on customer responsiveness, and implementing a stringent corporate governance program. These valued-added initiatives will help hhgregg grow in the years to come. Their biggest competition is with Best Buy, who owns the biggest share of the electronic store
- Purchased almost 65% of its product from 20 suppliers with 5 of those (Apple, HP, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba) providing almost 40% of its merchandise.
You indicated many great observations about Best Buy. To be honest, I see Best Buy as the first place to go and play with new technology or when I need an advise of "experts" to decide what device to buy, even though I always go online and find information by myself, I just find it helpful. Also, I check prices online and see which entity offers a better one, and if I want to avoid shipping and Best Buy has my final selection, I request a price match. Of course there's a policy, but the good thing about Best buy is their matching price system because attracts more customers, increase traffic, but not sure if this represent a big financial threat.
Target’s sales have been strong for the past three years. 2016 did see a drop in their sales but looking at the cost of goods it can be seen that they are also keeping their supplier costs down. Target offers competitive pricing and will price match for their customers. This helps both Target and the consumer since Target keeps a happy customer and one that continues to come back and the customer sees that Target care about their customers.
Pricing(1): Recently in 2013, Best Buy claims to have “Everyday Low Pricing” and “Price matching” strategy to get consumers to shop during non-promotional events.
Target has come up with a few ideas to try and overcome this problem. One potential solution is Target has put pressure on its suppliers to create unique products that will only be found and sold at Target stores. This would combat the comparison problem. Another idea is to compete with the online market by having suppliers create products that can allow for price matching. If this happens a consumer may make their purchases in one transaction instead of shopping around at competitor stores for a better deal. The third option is to create a subscription service to for consumers. This will supply a discount to customers on items they frequently purchase.
For this essay I’ve chosen Best Buy as my organization to write about. I like shopping at Best Buy so I thought it would be interesting to learn a bit more about the store. I will be going over Best Buy’s mission statement, their organizations structure, decision making process, human resource practices, and their social responsibilities. I did have some trouble finding things on Best Buy since they don’t seem to update their stuff very often. So, some of the information I got is older but still being used in the organization.
Although I do not have as much experience with Target, I have pretty much the same opinion; good prices and good quality equals a good store. I think that Wal-Mart and Target compete with each other in many aspects of their businesses; and competition is what keeps them in good standings in the business world. I think that
Best Buy has always faced competition in the industry that is functions in, and as the years have continued this has grown from rival electronics stores to phone companies. As stated by CEO Hubert Joly, "We are pleased today to report strong top and bottom line growth for the second quarter of fiscal 2018 (Joly 2017)". Best Buy saw an opportunity to expand its retail offerings and thrive in the electronics industry, and they believe the key to achieving this is by marketing and merchandising.
Best Buy had a history of being able to adapt to the changing markets and their ability to do so contributed to their success (i.e. the vastly expanded product line, evolution to superstores, expansion, acquisition, converting from commission to salaried sales force.). The perception that customers were focusing less on the technical aspect of products and redirecting their attention to service and support, led to Anderson’s custom-centricity initiative. This transition and the rollout of 144 new “centricity” Best Buy stores was being blamed for the company missing third quarter earnings in 2005, resulting in a 12% decline in stock value and a loss of nearly $2B in market capitalization. Did Anderson perform the proper strategic market planning analysis before selecting and implementing the centricity initiative?
Additionally, customers are continually looking for the best offers, deals, and ways to conserve their money while shopping. Bed Bath & Beyond has created an incentive for their shoppers to purchase from their store as opposed to any other called the price match policy (Bed Bath & Beyond, 2017a). This
Best Buy is one of the top providers of electronic products and service. The company offers great prices and technology expertise to aid customers to enhance customers store experience. In the U.S. Best Buy is accessible physical store and their online store. Best Buy competitive strategy would be characterized as best cost strategy. Their strategy suits them