by Kevin Coupe
A few weeks ago, I looked askance at a comment by Best Buy CEO Corie Barry that blamed all the money that Taylor Swift fans were spending on concert tickets and merchandise for stagnant sales in her stores. I thought it was a silly comment – a retailer’s job is to understand consumer priorities and to adapt and cater to them. Excuses are not acceptable.
(By the way, I see that Taylor Swift has been shortlisted for the Time Person of the Year cover. While I think the whole concept is anachronistic, I do think that there’s no question that she should be the winner – Taylor Swift has been an economic force, creative joy and bright spot in an otherwise rather dismal year. But I digress.)
Anyway, I got the following email and pictures yesterday from MNB reader Lynn Olsen that I thought qualified as an Eye-Opener. The email tells the following story:
I received a gift card to Best Buy recently and decided, once again, to try desperately to spend it last week on a Garmin golf watch.
No go, and the photos show why. Even a core category like batteries seemed beyond their ability to be in stock. This has been a recurring situation for several years.
The one person who talked with me, after I approached him, said “The item is probably online, sorry for the inconvenience”.
One key thing I learned very early in my 38 years of retail management is that air does not sell well.
And here are the pictures:
Memo to Corie Barry: Open your Eyes. Run better stores. Have better in-stock levels. And stop whining about T-Swift.
The post Tuesday Eye-Opener: Powered Down appeared first on MNB.
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