Best Buy’s Slow Demise
Over at Forbes.com there is really good article that talks about the slow, inevitable demise of Best Buy. The author talks about a recent, poor, experience at Best Buy and then looks at the overall factors against the retailer. The most obvious point to make is that e-commerce has made a very large dent in Best Buy’s market share. This is quite true overall. However, why is it true?
In 1990 Best Buy was taking in over $1 trillion in annual revenue. In 2011 that numbered dropped all the way down to a little more than $60 million in revenue. Conversely, In 2010 Amazon.com took in revenues of over $34 billion which is an increase of over 40% from the year 2008. Even if we assume that the internet is killing Best Buy we have to wonder why.
Unfortunately, the answer is simple. They failed to evolve fast enough and are guilty of marketing myopia. They got used to business as usual and failed to embrace change fast enough. If they had truly embraced the internet much sooner they might still be on track for consistent growth.
They should however still have a competitive advantage over online retailers though when it comes to customer service. Unfortunately for them, they don’t. Being able to speak directly to a person to answer your questions should help overcome the lower prices of online retailers. However, as pointed out in the Forbes article, their staff is not knowledgeable and is more interested in up selling than customer service. You would think that the Circuit City collapse several years ago would have given them fair warning. At this point in time it seems that Best Buy is content to go for the quick buck and deny the slow death that awaits it.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrydownes/2012/01/02/why-best-buy-is-going-out-of-business-gradually/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Buy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?annual&s=amzn
Star Wars water anyone?
I’m not entirely sure how much the fancy water drinking crowd crosses over with the Star Wars geek crowd. One this for sure though, Star Wars fans will buy anything related to the series, and these bottles actually look pretty slick.
Best Checkout Buttons (Reprint From Viralogy.com)
What follow is the complete article from Viralogy.com. If you would like to read the article on their site visit this link: http://viralogy.com/blog/ecommerce/examples-and-analysis-of-the-top-ten-best-checkout-buttons-in-the-world/
The Checkout button must be clearly visible, large, trust-worthy, and attractive to encourage the shopper to take the final step toward making a purchase. Below you will find the top ten best Checkout buttons along with an in-depth analysis of what makes them excellent.
At the end of the page, we have included the .PSD to an optimized Checkout button that you can utilize for you eCommerce store.
More…
80 Percent of Students Can’t Scan QR Codes
Quick Response (QR) codes have become very popular in the past couple of years. Marketing firms love them and they can be seen pretty much everywhere, including on my current cup of coffee. Surely QR codes must be going gangbusters given all this saturation. One study set out to find out just how many people understood these QR codes.
The study consisted of over 500 college students and the results were quite interesting. About 80% of the studens could identify a QR code but only about 21% were actually able to scan one. It should be noted that about 80% of the students had smart phones and thus had the ability to actually scan the codes.
When asked what do with the code some people had no clue while others deduced that they should be able to get the job done with their cameras. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be since the scanning of QR codes actually involves downloading software to ones phone. When told this, many of the students simply said no thanks to downloading the required program.
How does this information affect us as marketers? For starters, it is important to note that this particular group study is one that is extremely technologically advanced. If they can’t figure these things out, how in the world do we expect the older generations to make use of these codes? The first step in gaining QR code acceptance will come when smart phone makers provide the required software directly on the phone.
The second part which we have more control over, is content related. If people are going to take the time to scan a QR code then the end result better be worth it. Simply connecting the user to your homepage is not enough. It would be best to connect the code to specific parts of your website such as a sweepstakes or contest of some kind thus providing an incentive to actually use the code.
There are many very good uses for QR codes at the moment. Some examples include animal and luggage tracking. However, it will be a while before they become a true part of the everyday advertising world. Until then all we can do is work hard to deliver a solid message that makes the QR codes worthwhile.