Best Buy's strategy contrasts Circuit City's situation


With consumer electronics retailer Circuit City (NYSE:CC) shrinking like a dried prune and cutting employees to the tune of more than 3,400, as well as closing stores, fellow and larger competitor Best Buy (NYSE:BB) is doing the exact opposite: adding stores and employees. A new Best Buy store in Sierra Vista, California is a new concept design, meant to be more open and inviting (especially in big-ticket areas like flat-panel TVs). Over 1,000 applications for employment were received for the 90 positions that were eventually filled. Somehow, I don't think Circuit City would have gotten the same response (insert tongue in cheek here).

What is Best Buy doing that is so right that Circuit City is doing so wrong these days? One of them comes down to employee hiring and development. In fact, the hiring at the new Sierra Vista store produced a rather neat quip from a Best Buy store manager: "We did look for experienced employees, but mostly we considered work ethic and a willingness to learn." This makes sense, as Best Buy's customer experience (which has morphed over the last 10 years) will most likely need to be ingrained into new employees.

Want another quote? Try this: "Our goal is to respect our customers -- to differentiate ourselves and make it a very personable experience so we can take care of them." This sounds like a quote from another retailer that I've followed -- Wal-Mart. Can Best Buy really follow through on this premise? Time will tell. So far, though, it's not having trouble selling merchandise and making profits (unlike the competition), so something's working, right?

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