Why Best Buy is Going out of Business...Gradually
Larry Downes, writing for Forbes:
First comes the strategic bankruptcy, well in progress at Best Buy, where management’s sole focus is improving some arbitrary metric from last quarter, even when doing so actually interferes with customers trying to buy something else. The financial collapse comes later. But if history is any guide, the second part, once it starts, will be quick. Downes puts in writing what I've thought for several years now but never really thought enough about to put into words myself. Best Buy's customer service is horrible. Most store employees behave as if they were used car salesmen who try to peddle one or another bad product on their customers depending on which ever product management is trying to push that day. Whatever you buy they try to sell you an "extended warranty", which is how Best Buy makes a lot of their profits. When doing so, they promise (and sometimes lying to do so) that it will cover any possible circumstance. If you ever actually need to use the warranty however, there will be complete reversal from the sales pitch and instead find every reason that whatever circumstance you have encountered, is not actually covered under the warranty. Their entire business is predicated on scamming their customers. How is anyone surprised that they're now on a downward trend that will lead to their bankruptcy in the next 5-10 years?