My morning started with a Forbes article about how Best Buy has likely entered the early stages of its death. If true, the biggest electronics retailer in Charleston will become... probably Wal-Mart. Ugh.
I have nothing against Best Buy (Wal-Mart is another story). I've been in the Charleston store exactly once — last February. It was a nonevent, to say the least, and I've not really had a good reason to return. Most of the aisles were devoid of personnel and there weren't many customers. I was kind of sniffing around for a new laptop at the time, and even though I knew I'd probably end up buying from Amazon or TigerDirect, I felt obligated to kick some tires.
According to the Forbes article, that's part of the problem. Best Buy is turning into a showroom for Amazon. If I were to guess at it, I'd say lots of the so-called "bricks and mortar" stores are in that same boat... hence the demise of Circuit City, Borders, and numerous others. Even the strange Sears / KMart amalgamation is on life support (as if the merger itself weren't enough of a clue).
I'm tempted to say Wal-Mart is untouchable, but I once would have said the same about GM, which needed a healthy shot in the arm from Uncle Sam to stay afloat. And Sears, which has been around for well over a hundred years and was once the biggest retailer in America, now having to team up with KMart, is a pretty good sign that retail fundamentals are changing on a fairly large scale. The Sears Roebuck catalog can once again be used as toilet paper, it seems.
Another part of the problem in Best Buy's case? My experience again matched what was highlighted in the article; specifically, despite me being a customer with cash to spend and who could have been persuaded to do so, no one even gave it a shot. The laptop section had one other customer besides myself, while the desktop section had tumbleweeds blowing down the aisle. In the center of the store, people circled around the tablets and poked at them curiously, while the sales staff popped through every once in awhile to see if anyone had any questions. No one did — in fact, everyone seemed annoyed at the entire process (sales staff included). I've got to assume no one was interested in selling laptops at all, because nobody even ventured in my direction. Low commissions, perhaps, or maybe a push from above to move tablets and don't worry about anything else.
I could get better service without leaving my own house, I can research specs and reviews for hours without them being tainted by someone earning a commission, I can dig around and find the absolute lowest possible price, and I can ring up my own order — and, I can have it delivered directly to my front door.
This trend is accelerating, so Wal-Mart may indeed be the biggest electronics retailer with a physical location before long. If things continue like this, they may be the last physical retailer left.