The heart of a test store near Best Buy's headquarters here is a Solution Central help desk, rimmed with chairs and manned by the company's black-tied Geek Squad. It strongly resembles the Genius Bar at Apple's stores.
Best Buy's prototype has taken another cue from Apple, letting customers pay for products in several locations, rather than forcing them into checkout lines at the front of the store.
Best Buy said its slimmed-down store, which opened a few weeks ago, is focused less on displaying every conceivable gadget and more on connecting customers with employees who can answer questions or help program equipment.
Skeptics already are asking whether the new format goes far enough to attract customers and fight "showrooming," in which shoppers who browse in stores buy merchandise more cheaply elsewhere, usually online.
Best Buy, the nation's largest electronics retailer by revenue, has been particularly vulnerable to the trend; it says half the shoppers in its stores use cellphones or tablets to check competitors' prices, up from 10% in 2010. Sales at its stores open at least a year fell 1.7% last year after a 1.8% decline in 2010. The company's stock has dropped 33% over the past two years.
This article comes from:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303684004577507033027128596.html
No comments:
Post a Comment