The Best Buy Experiment Is Over

Yes, Apple's Computer's trial agreement with Best Buy stores to market iPods in certain stores around the county is a disaster. Take it from me.

Apple signed up Best Buy to market iPods at all of its stores in Sept. 2002, and then proposed a trial expansion of the program in Aug. 2003 to include certain computer models at a limited number of Best Buy stores. During conference calls in late 2003 Apple officials said it was "too early" to gauge the success of the Best Buy trial.

But I can tell you, Best Buy is no way to sell an iPod, let alone a computer. Conversely, Best Buy is no way to buy most anything unless you can pick it up off the shelf in a box, and lug out of the door without the assistance of a salesperson.

Take iPods, for example. The mp3 players are located in an obscure part of the store (head straight back, into the computer section, look behind the computer networking wall, or opposite the shelf display of speakers). It consists of an 8-foot wide section that includes bubble-pack mp3 players, and a locked glass cabinet below knee level containing other models. At the Best Buys that I visited in Jan. 2003, the only mention of an iPod was two price tags stuck to the end of the shelf for the 20 Gb and 40 Gb models, and a one-page, color print-out of the Apple store Web page about iPods, slipped into a plastic easel. If you bent down really low to try to look through the locked glass case, you couldn't see if there were any iPods inside or not.

If you actually want to buy an iPod, you have to track down an hourly-wage salesperson, and then hope that he/she doesn't tell you, "Oh, I don't work in that section." Then the salesperson will come over and answer your questions about the iPod---if they're familiar with its features. If you make a request to actually buy an iPod, the salesperson must now go looking for the person who has the keys to the glass case. In my case, he wandered around looking for the salesperson who had the keys, and they all told him, "No, I don't have it." Then he went looking for the manager, who must have had the key, leaving me standing by the cash register for 4-5 minutes. Then he came back shrugging his shoulders, just before he spotted the person who does have the key to the case--and then got into an argument with his co-worker about it. Then he went to the case, searched through the boxes and found out---no 20 Gb iPod. Yikes! A good 12-15 minutes just to find out they don't have something I was willing to spend $299 on.

At this point I looked around and see scores of people standing around, waiting for a salesperson to get free from their current deal with a customer, so they can ask them a question or retrieve merchandise from some locked case. Swirling around them are scores more people who are examining merchandise on shelves by themselves, or selecting items that don't require an explanation---or a salesperson.

This isn't the first time Apple has worked with Best Buy. The company made an agreement with BB back around 1996, but then the two companies parted ways in 1998, presumably over the success of the endeavor, but publicly over how many colored iMacs Best Buy was required to purchase for resale (gotta take one Snow for each Strawberry, etc.). The word is the two companies inked the latest deal based on the "success" of Best Buy selling iPods.

It all reminds me of the tragic experiment to sell Apple products at Sears stores a few years back, and somewhat of the current CompUSA sales program. Remember, it was these two disastrous sales agreements that originally convinced Apple that it needed it own retail stores, so they could more closely craft the total sales experience.

A single Sunday visit to Best Buy would convince all but the most unobservant that Best Buy's semi-warehouse method of selling merchandise with a bonus-driven sales force simply does not work for iPods--they're nowhere in sight. There is a limited display of iPod cases and Belkin accessories. But even people who have an immediate interest in buying an iPod are forced to wait minutes to hand over their money. And that's if the salesperson doesn't discourage them from buying an iPod, and instead steers them to another model that offers a better sales commission.

And, no. Having iPods in the country's largest electronics retailer isn't a big advantage if the experience leaves potential buyers dissatisfied. You can't trade volume for quality of service, especially in Apple's case.

Apple... pull the plug on Best Buy unless they can improve iPod marketing!

[Since I wrote this in early January 2004, I visited a Best Buy store selling Macintosh computers, and came away with a much better impression of how Macintosh computers are displayed and sold. However, the iPod situation hasn't improved. I've also learned that Best Buy is spending $80 million to renovate certain test stores and re-train employees as part of a "customer centricity" program. Perhaps these changes will amount to better sales practices for those seeking Apple gear. Read my full report on how Best Buy sells Macintosh desktop and laptop models.]