Ho… lee… crap. Best Buy is running a contest for Black Friday. One winner in each of 25 select markets gets a $1,000 gift card, a ride to Best Buy in a limo, early access to the store (that’s at 4:30 AM, mind you), and a bunch of other stuff. Sheesh.
So how do you win? You submit a 250-word story on AskABlueShirt.net about what you do “to make the day after Thanksgiving a particularly fun and special day.” The press release says that Best Buy is looking for people “to share how Black Friday shopping is an important holiday tradition for them and their family.” Nothing like a little rampant American consumerism to bring loved-ones closer together, eh?
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According to BGR, Wal-Mart may be carrying the iPhone 3G starting on November 15th. Also noteworthy is that it doesn’t look like the iPhone will be sold at Radio Shack, as previously rumored. Now, I’ve never purchased a cell phone from Wal-Mart before but here’s to hoping the activation process will be relatively hassle free, as I don’t remember ever seeing anybody in the electronics departments of any of the Wal-Mart stores I’ve been in.
I’ve seen a counter, I’ve seen locked glass cases holding cameras and video games, and I’ve seen a cash register, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen an actual person. It might be a good idea to cross-train the dependable lady behind the jewelry counter in the art of cell phone activations, because she’s almost always around.
Whoa, look at me! I just got an e-mail from Best Buy telling me that I’m now part of the company’s “most elite membership level – Premier Black.” That’s probably just fancy-talk for saying that I’ve spent most of my earned income over the past 15 or so years at their stores.
Aside from bonus points and whatnot, the kicker to this program appears to be a concierge service which, as a technology enthusiast, doesn’t appeal to me one bit. I’ll browse products all by myself, thank you very much. Other benefits include free shipping from BestBuy.com, a 45-day return policy, point-banking and a premier-only awards catalog, and special Geek Squad services (that I’ll never use).
Still, the free shipping, extended return policy, and point-banking are nice. My points tend to expire from time to time.
UPDATE: Looks like this was an error on Best Buy’s part, as the aforementioned e-mail was apparently sent to every Reward Zone member. Unlike some of you, however, I haven’t received a correction e-mail yet. Maybe I’m in the test market for this new program (Boston). I’ll post another update if I get a correction.
UPDATE 2: Aaaand, there we go. I received the correction e-mail around 2:30 AM.
“The Best Buy® Reward Zone® program is always looking at ways to make our program even better for our members. Today, you may have inadvertently and inaccurately received the below message during an initial email testing process. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or confusion. You continue to maintain your current membership status. If you are eligible for the Reward Zone program Premier Black test that will run in a limited number of select markets, we will notify you by a separate email. If you have any questions about this or the Reward Zone program, please visit www.MyRewardZone.com or contact our Customer Service Center at 1-888-237-8289. Thank you.
Sincerely,
The Best Buy Reward Zone program team”
Since the launch of Apple’s super-popular iPhone, competing handset manufacturers have been scrambling to produce phones that at least somewhat replicate Cupertino’s device. So it should stand to reason that the look and feel of Apple’s stores, which are quite popular with shoppers, might begin to appear in competing retailers’ stores.
Case in point, it’s being reported that Radio Shack will be opening three very familiar looking stores this October, with 10 planned by the end of the year, 150 by this time next year, followed by 400 within three years. Mike Baker, a Deutsche Bank analyst, says that the Radio Shack stores will be taking a page straight from Apple’s retail playbook, but will not likely be found in dumpy malls.
Instead, you’ll find these Radio Shack locations to be standalone stores in nicer neighborhoods. No word on whether or not Radio Shack’s planning to train its employees as thoroughly as Apple trains its retail army. I’m guessing that maybe employees in the new Radio Shack locations will be dressed nicely but will still swarm you three at a time, hoping for that sweet battery commission.
[via The Raw Feed]
Previously declared the leading next-generation console worldwide, the Nintendo Wii has now surpassed the Xbox 360 to become the leading next-generation console in the U.S. Last month, Nintendo sold over 666,000 Wii consoles versus 405,500 PS3s and 219,800 Xbox 360s, according to NPD Group, Inc. Wii games are also selling well, as NPD says that six of the ten top selling games last month were Wii titles.
[via Bloomberg]
California Best Buy stores are offering $9.99 Bluetooth pairing for those too fried on cocaine and hearty Cabernet to be bothered with connecting their new iPhones to the Bluetooth. Our take? Give us a call. One of us will walk you through pairing your headset for a mere $7.99. Nicholas can do it in Portuguese, Doug and do it in a hearty Boston Southie accent, and I can do it in High School Russian, so we’ve got all bases covered.
Apparently plenty of Best Buy shoppers like Sprint’s Samsung Instinct. In a recent press release, Best Buy said that since its June 19th launch, the Instinct has become “the retailer’s best selling handset in the past two years.”
Best Buy has also been pushing a service called “Walk Out Working,” which basically entails having your phone set up for you before you leave the store – e-mail, web access, GPS setup, etc. – the program’s apparently been quite well received. It’s available only for new Instinct purchases and will be going until the end of August.
Borders is back online after a long hiatus, and its looking to take on Amazon for the online book buying marketplace. But its got an uphill battle, with retail giant Amazon firmly in first place. Besides being huge, Amazon has features Borders can’t match, such as the Kindle eBook reader and in-book online searching. But Borders isn’t counting on high-tech to challenge Amazon, it’s instead turning to a rather time tested method of selling books: the bookstore.
The new retail presence is designed to evoke the feeling of browsing a bookstore, something many bookworms spend their weekends doing. It’s too early to tell if the strategy will work, but if there’s one thing many people dislike about Amazon its the actual shopping experience. Sure, if you know what you want it’s a great way to get a deal, but if you’re unsure it’s a hassle. We’re all for any alternative, let’s hope it works like it’s supposed to.
Looks like Best Buy’s got a pretty massive boner for Carphone Warehouse, as it’s just increased its ownership share from 2.9% to 50%, according to IDG News Service.
Best Buy has agreed to invest an additional $2.1 billion in the European retailer, likely by the end of August.
Carphone Warehouse will be opening stores here in the states this year and Best Buy is planning to open its first store in the UK in 2009. It appears that these kind of partnerships will be Best Buy’s main method of gaining access to foreign markets, as it’s also recently formed similar alliances with Future Shop in Canada and Jiangsu Five Star Appliance in China.
Working in retail is hard work, especially in the electronics field, but sometimes your interactions with people on a daily basis lead to new relationships. I worked at a big box retailer for about three years and got many dates out of it, though it wasn’t appropriate at all. The key is, though, to know when it’s OK and when it’s not OK to ask a customer on a date, and how to go about it.
This man in Florida worked at a Sprint retail store. A woman came in to exchange her Nextel phone for a Sprint phone. Awhile later, the man started sending her flirty text messages, even though she’s married. She told him she wasn’t interested. Then he sent more texts. And more. And then a picture message of his face.
And then, he sent her nudies.
She’s suing him and Sprint now, and rightly so. The moral of the story is that while it’s OK to ask a customer out on a date, it’s improper to start sending her tons of gross naked pics if she says no. I hope we’ve all learned here.
The economy isn’t doing so hot and Manchester United seems to be marching toward its second consecutive title. We’re all doomed, in other words. But hey, did you know that you can get $20 off a pair of speakers on Sixth Avenue?
The Times has a piece today exploring the issue of haggling in the year 2008. It seems the terrible economy, coupled with the Internet, gives consumers the ability to walk into a Best Buy or Circuit City or local boutique and negotiate the price of any number of items. This happy fellow convinced an electronics store in New York to knock more than $1,000 of the price of a 46-inch Sony TV. You lucky devil!
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Now this is interesting ineed. Due apparently to the high demand of the MacBook Air, Apple has put together a special page on its retail website where you can check your local availability without having to call or visit the Apple store.
It’s not live now, but it appears as if it will be later tonight. Is Apple actually selling enough Airs to warrant this new service, or is it some secret trick into making us this it is?
MacBook Air’s availability page [Apple.com]
GameStop will stop accepting all HD DVD trade-ins later today. It’ll stop accepting the 360’s HD DVD player for trade-ins, too.
Story.
This past Christmas I traded in unopened HD DVDs that I had received throughout the year and traded them into Best Buy, getting some store credit in the process. Good thing I did that when I did because with the death of the format comes the death of scams like mine. Oh well, I still have a few Blu-rays I can hawk.
GameStop begins halting HD DVD movie trade-ins [QJ.net]
There are reports that the MacBook Air was to go on sale at Apple stores across the country today or tomorrow. A quick trip to our local store saw no such MacBooks, and after asking a couple of acting managers when we’d be able to play with them in a retail setting, I was told at least a week.
Now, this runs contrary to some rumors floating around, specifically from Boy Genius, who has it on good authority that the Air’s are in the stores, they’re just waiting for the pre-destined alignment of stars to pull the trigger.
We’re not sure what’s going on, But at the Stevenote, exactly 14 days ago, Steve said we’d be seeing them “in a couple weeks”. We’re waiting, sir, and we wait patiently.
In the last three weeks, I’ve been to seven airports. CES, Macworld, and other travels have sent me all over the place. One thing I always check out when I run across them are airport Palm stores. See, I’m a Palm believer. They started the handheld and smartphone revolutions, we owe them a lot. And I think they have a few bright products on the horizon. I don’t stop by the stores for the hardware, I stop by to see people getting interested in smartphones.
But this little travel tradition of mine might soon come to an end, as word is Palm will be shuttering 26 of its airport stores as it prepares to pay out quite a bit of money to Treo 600 and 650 owners as part of a class-action suit it settled not long ago. The final hearing is set for May 2. Many of these handsets had manufacturing problems, and those that required more than one repair are eligible for a rebate or credit. If things go as anticipated, registered owners of Treo 600s will receive $75, whle 650 owners will receive a $50 credit towards the purchase of any new Treo smartphone.
Class action settlement has Palm pulling plugs [BGR]
I was recently at Fry’s buying, I don’t know, something. They had a stack of hard-to-find Wiis right up front, a great big pallet. I thought about grabbing one, then realized it cost $329.
Knowing that the retail price of a Wii is $250, I asked what was up, and an anxious employee told me the Wiis were only available in bundles that included three additional controllers and nunchucks, a game, and some pretty useless stuff. He said it was over $400 worth of merchandise, to which I said, “I live alone. Just me. I just want a Wii.”
And he said I couldn’t have one. I thought this to be dishonest and a lousy way to make a buck, and now it seems our favorite corporate goon ever, Reggie Fils-Aime, agrees. While Nintendo doesn’t have a way of stopping them — retailers can re-package, or make “kits”, with anything they want to — he made it clear that Nintendo does not approve of the practice.
We’re for the idea of Nintendo withholding shipments of Wiis to these nefarious villians, and we’re hoping they get reallocated to more scrupulous retailers.
Reggie: Retailers have been told we are not fans of forced Wii bundles [MaxCon]
I see you’re buying a scanner. Would you like a USB cable or some salmon?
Samsung will no longer sell TVs and other similar consumer products in Japan. That seems weird, but it’s true.
It’s going to focus solely on business products now, thanks to poor profitability in the retail sector.
Last year, Samsung’s retail sales accounted for less than 1% of its total sales in Japan. That’s a lot of noise for a little profit.
Samsung Stops Consumer Sales in Japan [AOL News]
Back in high school, I worked at a Banana Republic part-time. One of the most common problems was running out of a certain article of clothing and having to direct customers to other stores, which in turn lost us business, which in turn meant less hours to work. Dillard’s is looking to change all that though (or at least the whole running out of stock thing) by testing out a new RFID pilot program in stores this month.
Certain styles of clothing will have a special RFID tag that contains garment and inventory information. When the clothes are purchased, the tags are removed and the store’s inventory system is automatically updated to reflect the purchase. This way, Dillard’s can keep better track of its inventory and always have what customers want, thus resulting in improved sales and more revenue. No word on which locations will be participating in the pilot.
Dillard’s to begin RFID pilot program [RD Design]
