Best Buy, Digital Home's Evangelist?

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/227/best_buy_digital' target='_blank'>http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/227/best_buy_digital</a><br /><br /></div><i>"ExtremeTech <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1676617,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532">reports</a> that in a Q&A session following a keynote address at the DigitalLife show in New York, Brad Anderson, chief executive of Best Buy, said that "tying refrigerators, security systems, and other devices to the home network was the next big thing." He further stated that "A lot of the hype during the 90's and the dot-com boom revolved around walking into the kitchen, seeing it react" with personal content tailored to the individual."</i><br /><br />I saw this article on eHomeUpgrade and started to think about whether Best Buy is really the only store around that is the "digital home evangelist". But then we were talking a few months ago about how mediocre Best Buy really is. So is there no other major store/chain that does a better job? Where do you shop for electronics these days or do you just buy your gadgets online?

[Felix Torres]

Best Buy wins by default.
Which isn't to say they do a great job or anything, but lets face it; who else is out there?
CompUSA?
Circuit City?
Sears?
RadioShack?
I imagine there are some good local boutique operators and regional players (Fry's?), but on a national basis I can't think of anybody that comes even close.
At least Best Buy commercials promote the *technology* to non-techies...

As for online, most online vendors are more "pull-customers in" than "push-technology out" operators. So they work if you *already* know what you want. The nature of the medium, I guess...

As for me, well, I'm a techie; I already have a vision of where I want to be. To me *all* existing DM products are transitional tech, to be used as short-term solutions that position me to the final stage, which I see as being at least three years away.

(Hint: "packets is packets", TCP/IP everywhere...)

As I've said before, I think it is way too early to crown winners in *any* category. And without clear, long-term leaders, it is hard for *any* retailer to be much of an evangelist since they can't honestly promote anything clear and concrete.

It may be this fuzziness on the retailers' behalf that is leading the bigger vendors like Sony and Samsung to open up their own stores to promote *their* specific visions.

(And no, I don't count Apple in this category; Apple stores are *reactive* in nature, not pro-active like the Sony and Samsung operations.)

We'll just have to muddle through for the next few years until the fog lifts and we see who the real long-term winners turn out to be.
(Aside from the music and Movie studios, of course.) :?

[Suhit Gupta]

Best Buy wins by default.
Which isn't to say they do a great job or anything, but lets face it; who else is out there?
CompUSA?
Circuit City?
Sears?
RadioShack?
I imagine there are some good local boutique operators and regional players (Fry's?), but on a national basis I can't think of anybody that comes even close.
At least Best Buy commercials promote the *technology* to non-techies...
Yeah, I would have to agree. For our international audience - do you guys have any solid tech stores in your neck of the woods?

Suhit

[Andy Manea]

Now that I'm thinking about it, whenever I get to the States I check out BestBuy first, and end up leaving the store again - empty-handed and disappointed. For some unknown reason, the German stores sell new things earlier.
To give you an example: Two months ago I was thinking about buying an external Dual Layer DVD Burner before coming back to Germany. But guess what. None of the stores selling DL burners had DL DVD-Rs. How the hell is this possible? Then Best Buy gave me some astronomical price (30 US$) for the only brand they would get, whenever they would get it. But nobody in any of the stores (BB, Comp USA, Walmart, Target...) knew WHEN they would be selling any. I got home to Germany and even WOOLWORTH (!!) sells DL media for 14 EURO.

When I buy something, I either do it because I informed myself and really want it - and then I look for the cheapest prices and might end up buying it online in the US, OR because I am in Mediamarkt or Saturn and just can't resist the temptation. These stores seem to have a LOT more products and you can try out everything, unlike in many BestBuys where they often use either dummy models or devices that don't power on because they are not plugged in or don't have the batteries inside. In the digicam section they provide flash cards and a computer where you can look at the pictures you took on a large screen. A guy once even opened a brandnew box with a D-Snap SV-AV100 (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/vModelDetail?displayTab=O&amp;storeId=11251&amp;catalogId=11005&amp;itemId=65016&amp;catGroupId=17169&amp;modelNo=SV-AV100&amp;surfModel=SV-AV100) (1000 EURO) for me just because I wanted to try it out. He used an unused 512 SD card (still really expensive over here) in it and I could check out the videos on the large computer screen. 8O

Pricewise I am not quite sure which is better- I guess it depends on what you buy. Here are some links to these stores so you can check them out for yourselves. Keep in mind the exchange rate (1.27 US$=1EURO) but also that taxes are already included in the price (and that's 16% in Germany).

Mediamarkt (http://www.mediamarkt.de/comp/)
Mediamarkt Online Store (http://shop.mediamarkt.de/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=5000&amp;langId=-3&amp;catalogId=5000)
Saturn (&lt;-- really good if you are looking for a cell phone ("Handy"), too) (http://www.saturn.de/frontend/html_home/home_205.html)

[Andy Manea]

Sorry for that long post - once I get going... :oops:

[Phoenix]

I rarely buy anything at Best Buy. Most of my purchases are either through CompUSA or online.

[Felix Torres]

Sorry for that long post - once I get going... :oops:

So, get going more often.
We need more posts that don't consist of "Apple owns the world!" :wink:

Plus, it helps to see how things run on the other side of the pond before the trade war breaks out...

[Andy Manea]

before the trade war breaks out !?!?!?!?!?!