New Best Buy stores being designed with women in mind

Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is ditching the warehouse-blue store format that it's grown famous for. Well, not really -- but in some newer stores in Denver, that cheery blue is being supplemented by earth tones and skylights as the largest consumer electronics chain in the U.S. sets its sights on the female demographic. That's right -- the anti-gadget crowd who rolls both eyes when guys start salivating over that 50-inch flat screen television.

Women do have a huge (indirect) impact on consumer electronics sales, although the merchandising most retailers push definitely fits the male buying persona. So, instead of the gray, techie feel where those large flat-panel displays generally reside, Best Buy will be placing some (if not all) of those televisions into staged rooms that look like a set from a typical home. What a better way to visualize that new purchase than by seeing how it looks in the real world, right? Ever sold a home and staged it to sell? Same thing.

Best Buy even asked 40 local female customers to work with its employees to help them form ideas. In other words, merchandise your products in a way that makes them comfortable to be around and use, not as cold hard hunks of steel, plastic and chrome. Serving the needs of women shoppers better is a perfect way to grow sales in this economic state (if that's even doable) -- Best Buy certainly has the right idea here. There's nothing better than involving your customers in decisions that affect how they purchase, right?