[quote name='portnoyd']Wal-Mart will exist as long as BB does, and that's all the competition they need.
When I said viva la mom & pop, it wasn't in regards to deals; moreso better places to shop. Ever been to the Digital Press store in Clifton, NJ? That's what I'm talking about.[/QUOTE]
I understood what you meant. We have a local place called Game Craze that I prefer over EB or GameStop now. Never been a big GameStop fan to begin with but I liked EB Games until Gamestop took over and the deals (what there were of them) went away.
One poster said Circuit City is doing fine. They in fact are not. People forget that a month and a half back Circuit City planned to lay off thousands of employee's and then hire them all back at lesser wages to boost their bottom line (
http://biz.yahoo.com/bizwk/070329/mar2007pi20070328712708.html?.v=1).
Electronics retailers face many issues indeed.
However, Best Buy's clear advantage in the technology retail sector is the rebate issue. I'm not a big fan of Best Buy either though they have worked hard to get "good floor staff" and have them follow real doctrine now and it shows. The fact however that most (all?) Best Buy rebates are instant is just a HUGE advantage over CC and CompUSA.
I bought two PC's a few years back at Circuit City and literally had to call corporate and file a complaint with our State Attorney General to get my rebates. Corporate did not respond nor return my calls and the local stores were useless in assisting me. After the State Attorney General contacted THEM then they made the effort to contact me. I actually picked up my rebates at the local CC in "cash". The State AG said at the time it was not uncommon and numerous complaints were being addressed. Basically CC saying, "We never received your mail in rebate". The State AG advised that ANY mail in rebates from ANY retailer be sent via certified or delivery confirmation mail.
Best Buy's instant rebate is far more attractive to consumers. If CC or CompUSA has "Item X" and its say $999 - $250 in total mail in rebates and Best Buy has the same item with a $200 instant rebate I will instantly get it at Best Buy rather than either of the other two. Money in the hand is better than waiting that simple for most consumers. It took me nearly 9 months to get the issue settled with Circuit City and they have lost many a lawsuit now trying to find ways to boost bottom lines. For example not paying overtime to employee's and via the employee contract stating that if employee's engage in arbitration (for any reason) that they must PAY CC! Unreal. So your boss harasses you, you want get the matter dealt with via arbitration and you need pay CC to do so! Illegal and they have been hit for it, again, few years back. This company also disallowed (or tried) by contract class actions via employee's, again, illegal.
Point all being however that none of these companies are friendly period. Its about money. They'll be nice nice to you as you have money in your pocket and rights as a consumer. None are too fond of "bargain shoppers".
Like I said, I'm not a Best Buy fan either. I bought a PC there last year as it was a store display. HP 3700+ Athlon w/ a GB Ram, ATI Vidoe, 200 GB HD etc etc. $279 and I whipped out some "Gift Cards" which they initially refused to honor. It was again like pulling teeth to even get the PC at the price noted. Later I found out that a store employee wanted it due to the 3700+ chip, I guess it was a "Hi performance version" of it. Turns out the PC has a 3800+ chip in it, so, he swiped the one that was in it. I really dont care in that it's not a game PC per se. But, this stuff goes to show you.
I like Target, decent deals, aggressive policies when it comes to closeouts and they can do it, they are a company that knows how to treat consumers and be profitable. Walmart is just a money muncher and with so much money they never concerned themselves. They are now word has it getting concerned due to Target.
See... its like this. Target will write off loss against taxable revenues. This is how your closeout game that was $49 is not $12.98. What is left that is warehoused or still full cases (in stores) they will return to the distributor for price protection (in the case of Video Games). Price protection means its returned for credit in "easy terms" of this particular example.
Walmart on the other hand will not do this, they will return each unit for price protection or liquidate (not to end consumers) any units that are damaged and even at times new etc. Walmart will happily take a FULL write off against cost of goods as well if thats financially better. In other words, if "Game XX" is worth more to the company as a tax write off they will liquidate it (again, not to end consumers but to wholesalers/liquidators) rather than sell it direct to you (like Target does AS POLICY). Walmart is more savvy one might say at making sure every red cent of profit and "good finanance" usage comes their way. For example, if its wiser when reviewing costs of returning some game to a distributor a publisher uses vs going liquidation to a liquidator they will do just that or visa versa.
Target one might say is more consumer centric in that they will do REAL closeout deals. They assume that the consumer will appreciate Target's way of doing business and come to Target .vs. Walmart and/or other retailers for future purchases and at least for me, that works. When I wanted a new Gas Grill I went there. When we buy toys for our dog it tends to be there.
You'll notice however that things such as music CD's or DVD's at Target seldom if ever closeout. On these items MUCH more often than you'll ever see in games or software for example the contracts do not allow for closeout. In other words, they are very very concerned that a place like Target might through closeout impact Walmart ordering from them.
These things are often easy to see if you open your eyes. Go to Walmart late at night and you'll see boxes and boxes of stuff usually in the front of the store. Lots of it are returns, lots are not. All that stuff is slated to go to liquidators and those liquidators then sell via tractor trailer loads to other places. Eventually the crap makes its way to shops or eBay etc.
Long and short of it however is how businesses compete against businesses of similar genre goods. Best Buy's instant rebate ability beats CompUSA/Circuit City hands down and thats just an ENORMOUS advantage.
