Best Buy and other Retailers in a Mess.

[MineralMan]

They can't compete with online retailers for things like TV systems, PCs and other stuff. They just can't. So what happens to the folks who work in those stores? What will they do. Here's one answer:

http://hdinstallers.com/Minnesota_home_theater_installation.html

See the link. So, you order your 60" TV from an online retailer and it shows up at your house 24 hours later or in a couple of days. You saved some money over buying it at Best Buy or even Walmart. But, what then? You call the folks at that website, or one of the many like it, who pop in, get your system all installed and set up, and then take off.

Buying furniture at IKEA. Assembling it sucks. But, there are folks who will do that for you, and IKEA has a list of them they'll be happy to give you.

New types of jobs, and new opportunities for entrepreneurs. Times are changing. They are changing indeed.

[Little Star]

1. Yes, times sure are changing...

Some of it's good, some not so much.

Personally, when it comes to clothes shopping, I like to feel the material with my fingers. I also like to try them on to see if they are comfortable or look ok on me. So that's one big plus for brick & mortar stores to me.

[MineralMan]

2. Yes, clothing is something worth going to the store for.

You can try it on, look at it, check the quality, etc., before you buy. But, even that is changing. My wife, for example, detests shopping for clothing. She shops online for that, too, relying on trusted brands with their reliable sizing and quality. Every one of them offers free shipping for returns, too, and she sends stuff back if it doesn't fit or whatever. Mostly, though, she sticks to a few online retailers and keeps what she orders.

Not everyone likes to shop, even for clothing. Online retailers have that down, now, and the easy, free return policies are making converts.

For myself, I cannot stand to order clothing online. But I shop for clothing rarely, and go to places where I know I can rely on sizing information. I go in to buy a particular item, pick it from the stock and get out of there. I know my sizes for everything. I just don't like ordering clothing online. However, people give me Amazon gift cards, and I often order clothing from there when I get one.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. I am with your very wise wife, Mineral.

Matter of fact, just got a pair of shoes that I ordered online.
I know the style I can wear, I trust the maker ( Hush Puppy, and/or Naturalizer) and I know where to find said shoe a year or 2 after it was sold at the brick store.
Saved 60 % off the original price, got free shipping and free return,
did not have to go out in the cold, or drive anywhere.

Lol..as my Mom used to say.....I got such a sale on this, I bought two, and saved twice as much!

[MineralMan]

9. There you go. Trusted brands and price conscious shopping.

I'm a brand shopper for most things, and particularly for clothing, shoes, etc. Then, I look for price and service. I do my shopping at home, online. I read reviews for stuff I don't have personal experience with. I compare specifications. Then, I buy. I'm almost never unhappy with my purchases.

[Glassunion]

3. People are doing what they have to do.

7 million manufacturing jobs gone in the past 15 years, so that we can get cheap TVs, Computer Processors, Cell Phones, etc... online, really cheap, from sweatshop like distribution centers that pay minimum wage at best.

[MineralMan]

5. Yup. No question about it.

Things are not going to back up. We are not going to return to an earlier model. So, people are looking for new ways to earn money. Individual entrepreneurship, like the installation service I linked to above, and other models are going to be important. I'm not sure what they are going to be, exactly. I'm old, and have been self-employed since 1974, so I've been finding my own ways to earn a living since then. I don't expect anything like our old economy to return. I don't see any path to that. So, what's the next thing? I don't know that, either.

[Glassunion]

11. Actually trade reform with China would be a big step in getting manufacturing jobs back

Of course, that will not happen. But it would absolutely be a step in the right direction.

But when you have a government (China's) that subsidizes a huge chunk of their industries, then places huge roadblocks on their imports (usually setting a higher standard than they do for themselves), you end up with prices that no American company can compete with, while contributing to an ever widening gap in our trade deficit with them.

Look at Chinese steel. How can any American company compete with a Chinese company that sells and delivers below cost? American companies, and governments are buying steel cheaper from China, than it costs for the raw material of iron ore. There is a bridge in NY the MTA is working on. China is supplying the steel for 35 million USD. No American company bid even close to that by a difference of about 100 million.

So what happens, is we send boat loads of our cash to China, and they send back cheap goods and very, very little of their cash in return, a difference (currently) of about 30Billion USD a month.

[MineralMan]

13. As you say: 'Of course, that will not happen.'

And you're almost certainly right. So, what next? That's the real question. I do not have an answer for that question.

[TBF]

15. That's the truth -

we are a little higher income (thankfully still gainfully employed) so I can go to the local vet and buy their treats and heartworm meds, shop for clothes at local boutiques, and even went to Best Buy to get game systems for the kids this Christmas (the cutthroat deals went fast both online and off). I consider myself incredibly lucky to be able to do that. I do a lot of buying on-line too just for convenience.

When I ask my mom what she and close family members want for Christmas she tells me the truth - VISA gift cards. So I buy them, pay the fees, and send them so they can actually get something they'd like. Too many people are working for a minimum wage that hasn't been raised in years.

[IADEMO2004]

4. So some day soon I order my top ten favorite tvs

set them up to compare and return 9?

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. or save some time and read Consumer Reports.

[MineralMan]

8. Why would you do that?

I can check out any product like that better online than I ever could in person in some store. I can see the specifications and compare them for a full range of products. I can look up user reviews of products that I'm thinking about. If there are issues with the product, I will be sure to find out about them. I can read professional reviews, as well, to help me make a decision.

After doing my research, I can order the product I have decided on, with an excellent assurance that it will be what I want. Isn't that how everyone shops these days?

I bought my new car the same way. I read reviews. I read owner reviews. I even went on brand forums and read topics about the cars I was considering. Then, I shopped dealers online, as well. I read reviews of those dealerships, as well, written by their actual customers. Finally, I decided on the brand, model, and dealer, who had one equipped as I wanted it in inventory, priced at what it should have been priced. I called the dealer, said that I was coming in and asked that they have the exact car ready for a test drive. An hour and a half after I got there, I drove home in my new car. No muss, no fuss.

I spend my time researching products online, and then I buy the one that best suits my needs. Isn't that how everyone shops now?

[Fumesucker]

10. I meet a lot of people who are really bad at searching

If you are geeky it tends to come naturally being able to look up and compare specs and so forth but even though I'm a geek it's obvious plenty of people aren't.

I'm reminded of this XKCD toon, it's not just tech support it's any damn thing at all do do with technical stuff.

[MineralMan]

12. Well, I'm pretty geeky, but I'm also 68 years old.

The IBM PC came out in 1981. In 1984, I bought a PC clone to write a book that I had a contract for. I learned as I went. I ended up writing about PCs for major publications and writing software for my own small shareware company. I learned as I went.

Research skills on the Internet are not that difficult to learn or to teach. If someone doesn't have time or the inclination to learn that stuff, then that's a problem they have to deal with. I have no doubt that if a person were to type "How do I search on the Internet" in Google, that person would find a wealth of materials he or she could use to learn those skills. It's not rocket science.

In fact, here's that very search:

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+do+I+search+on+the+Internet

Read and try the stuff at the links on the first page of those results, and you'll be a Google expert, able to find the information you need on anything. How much simpler could it be?

I'm always happy to help people learn stuff, but my patience runs out quickly if they don't really try to learn the stuff. Very quickly. I've taught computer classes since the mid 1980s. Some people want to learn how and why. Others don't. I can't make people want to learn, but if they want to learn, I can show them how to learn what they need.

Beyond that, folks are on their own.

[IADEMO2004]

14. I read tons of specs and reviews but I like to see/hear/touch for myself.

Katy Perry specs out quite well and reviews say she is quite popular but when I see and hear her I'm a bit let down. If I just touched her-----don't go there

[MineralMan]

16. OK. That's fine with me, for sure.

I'm a specifications guy and someone who likes to know what other people think of stuff. When I bought my new car, I decided on the make and model without ever having been in one. When I showed up at the dealership to buy it, I took a test drive - around the dealership parking lot. It was a new car. It fit when I sat down in it. It started. It was shiny. It was the car I had decided to buy. I didn't really need to drive it around that much. My wife sat in it, too and liked how it felt. She liked its looks. That was the extent of our hands-on, touchy-feely inspection. We went inside and bought it. We got a good deal on it, I guess. We got good financing, because our credit score was excellent. There was a veteran's discount. I learned about that from my internet research, so I had a copy of my DD-214 with me. Save $500. There was an AARP discount. I had my AARP card with me. Another $250. We qualified for a particular financing offer, and knocked another $500 off the price for that. The price was what I had calculated in advance and what I expected to pay. It was a low-end car, and a base model, so there wasn't much room for maneuvering, and it was the beginning of the model year. So, we got out of the dealership at the price I had figured out before going there.

An hour and a half. I thought that was longer than it should have taken, but there it is.

But, my decision was made before I even got to the dealership. It was just a matter of the paperwork, really. So far, I haven't found anyone who paid less for the identical car. It's still running great, and we still like it. Can't do better than that.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

17. I worked for a company that sold product into Best Buy, Walmart, Target

and the like. These companies are well aware they are turning into giant showrooms for Amazon and other online retailers. Supposedly Best Buy is countering that with a "we'll match any price" approach year round now. We'll have to see by January how things panned out for them. They are a company that is hurting.

http://www.startribune.com/business/235336521.html

[MineralMan]

20. Yes, I read that. They're struggling for cash flow this year.

It's not sustainable. I think Best Buy needs to rethink itself and move away from entertainment hardware as their mainstay. That's just too competitive these days. Same with entertainment software. Who goes to Best Buy for that any more?

They have a durable goods base they should work on developing, I think. Major appliances and they could maybe even move into the home comfort business. Furnaces, central AC, water heating, etc. If they made the entertainment part of their business a sideline, instead of their main line, I think they might be able to rescue themselves. They can subcontract installation of that HVAC stuff and just make money on the hardware.

If they don't make a change soon, though, they're going down. I doubt they can successfully change directions, though. If they're smart, though, they'll realize that Sears will soon be gone, and Sears is their big competitor for the major appliance business. They should be positioning themselves as the logical place to go in that line, I think.

But what do I know?

[RebelOne]

18. I purchase most electronics and computers from Best Buy.

Mainly, because the nearest store is about 8 miles from me. I have bought a couple of TVs there. I did buy a TV online because the price was so good I couldn't turn it down. I bought it in 2009 and it still works beautifully.

The great thing about Best Buy is that if there was any problem with my computer, I could take it there and the Geek Squad would check it out for free and fix the problem if it was minor and not charge me.

[MineralMan]

19. I still shop there if I need something today.

If my PC dies, I'll head there and pick up a new one, of course, so I can get back to work.

I bought a refrigerator there, too. Why? Because mine broke and I needed a new one delivered that day. I went in, found one that would work for me, and bought it. But, that's not enough to support their business model, I think. I bought the computer on sale, and did the same for the refrigerator. I didn't pay any attention to the salesperson's attempt to upsell me. I bought the ones in that week's flyer. The salesperson wasn't amused.

Oh, yeah...I bought a TV there in 2004. I looked at their weekly flyer and went in, found it, and said, I'll take one of those. The salesperson gave me, "Well, I'll have to see if we have that model in stock. You'd like this one better," he said, pointing at one that was $100 more. They had the one in the flyer in stock. He wasn't amused, either. I shop in brick and mortar stores when it's convenient to do that and when it doesn't really matter. A PC? Hell, I don't even care what brand I buy. They're all PCs, and I don't need anything fancy. Same with the other stuff. Does it work? Is it priced right? I'll take it.