Best Buy opened it’s doors in 1966 by the name of “Sound of Music”, it wasn’t until 1986 that it proceeded to change it’s name to what it is recognized today. Best Buy is the top retailer in the nation’s (USA) consumer electronic retail industry. What makes Best Buy unique is that they sell electronics and appliances used for home and office, they provide customer service and business support through their Geek Squad Technical Support System, and they offer major tech brands and their products such as Apple and Windows in house. According to The New York Times, the computer and electronics industry consists of companies engaged in the retailing of computers and peripherals, consumer electronics and other technology products. The industry includes household appliances, audio and video equipment, consumer software, digital cameras, cell phones and components and other electronic goods.” Like many top leaders, Best Buy has not been immune to issues in regards to maintaining its status in the market. Some of the issues the company faces include, loss in stock value, loosing the retention of it’s customers, and being out-competed by e-commerce companies in the same industry such as, Amazon. All of this can be classified as a marketing problem Best Buy faces.
Strengths
The team is currently working on their marketing strategies to better suit their market and increase sales growth. As per Forbes.com “Best Buy is focusing on evolving its marketing strategy to more targeted, personalized and relevant customer communication, including the continuing to shift away from traditional TV advertising to more relevant digital marketing.” Best buy is also working on ways to strengthen its relationship with its customers and target their customers directly with special offers and its programs. Experts at Forbes.com share
American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) differentiates from its competitors because it’s a leading global specialty retailer offering latest trends that are high-quality and affordable. The source of competitive advantage is the quality of their clothes and their environmentally friendly fabrics. American Eagle Outfitters is a high-quality and inexpensive brand of their two competitors Aéropostal and Abercrombie and Fitch. AEO centers in every category of purchaser such as kids, tweens, teens, and adults. American Eagle Outfitters has further stores open globally and their product line is more assorted than its competitors and its name brand and logo is known world-wide.
Introduction: Dollarama is a public retail company founded in the year 1992 by Larry Rossy. This company becomes well known all around Canada dealing in different consumer products. Now, Dollarama has its store in every province of Canada. It has multiple stores in Ontario only.
In an interview with James Wetherbe, Richard M. Schulze tells of how at eleven-years-old he became an entrepreneur in St. Paul, Minnesota as a paperboy. This newspaper boy would grow up to be founder of the world’s largest consumer electronics chain store, Best Buy Co. Inc. (Schulze, 2014). As an adult in 1966 Schulze partnered up with Gary Smoliak and opened the company called Sound of Music until 1986 (Bailey, 2015). Schulze bought out Smoliak around 1970 and by 1983 he had changed the name of the company to Best Buy Co., Inc. Four years later Best Buy Co., Inc. secures an entry on the New York Stock Exchange. During the early 1990’s Best Buy Co., Inc., had become the largest consumer electronics store in the United States.
The SWOT analysis: The study of the firm's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats called SWOT analysis, a key step in flushing out known performance issues that are important to the growth of the organization addressed in the corporation strategic plan. The issues identified in the SWOT analysis help leadership to come up with a plan and strategy to achieve the overall mission of the company (Strategic Planning, n, d). Target Corporation is one of the largest public retailing company in the US having more than 1700 stores serving guests nationwide. Target group and its brand position are evaluated in the market using SWOT analysis.--
Best Buy operates in an oligopolistic market where there are significant barriers to entry and few large firms dominate the market by selling identical goods. Best Buy is a non-collusive oligopolist, existing in a strategic environment where firms do not cooperate, yet are interdependent due to the fact that a firm’s action affects the market. Recently, Best Buy experienced an increase in demand, increasing its revenues and profits.
Wal-Mart Stores is an American company that has been on the market for quite some time now. The company was started 60 years ago and it offers a vast selection of products in its stores that include a garden center, super market, pharmacy, optical center, photo processing center, and tire and lube express as well as a pet shop. The store also has smaller shops inside that include fast food outlet, nail, Walmart Visitor Center and video shops. Wal-Mart owned 2,700 super stores in the US and by the year 2001, the organization had become the largest food store in the region.
The eighties prompted change as well as the opening of Best Buy’s first superstore. During 1983, a new corporate name was approved and the Sound of Music Company became known as Best Buy Co., Inc. With mounting consumer support Best Buy continued its road to expansion by opening an additional five stores. In 1985, the newly named company was being publicly traded under the symbol BBY. The late eighties brought forth additional change for the continuously growing company. Best Buy adopted a new concept in retail merchandising with the opening of massive superstores. The new concept shifted the placing of all inventory on the sales floor and hiring a specialized staff of non-commissioned service representatives (FAQ). Such adaptations have fueled the company into progression and continued to promote the company’s corporate vision of “Making life fun and easy”(Fact Sheet).
Strengths Quality name brand products at low prices. This is the cornerstone of the Costco business model and one of the biggest drivers of its success. Costco has built an identity based on this strength. Fast inventory turnover and High sales volume This is a key strength that directly relates back to the first strength. Fast turnover means they are collecting on their purchases often before payment is due, cutting borrowing costs and further reducing prices.
Whole Foods Market, which is in the Grocery Store and Health Food Store industry, is one of America’s most prominent organic grocery store on the market. The supermarket chain has established a competitive advantage amongst other grocery stores, as it assures consumers that all foods are free of preservative, additive, and pesticides. The grocery store has gained such a profitable following, that it Amazon acquired it in August 2017, boosting Whole Foods Market’s digital and physical competitive advantage. In fact, most researchers have concluded that such an acquisition may eliminate any opportunity for other grocery store chains to compete against Whole Foods Market (Formichelli, 2017). Whole Foods Market’s key to success
Best Buy, a 47 year old business, has faced countless challenges over the years. While Best Buy’s reputation has fluctuated, the company has presented several strategies to deal with these problems by creating plans to stabilize and promote growth. Through an in-depth analysis, the following areas were studied performance, environment, and organization. The analysis will assist in examining Best Buy’s strategies and core competences. The objective of this study is an understanding of the challenges and to figure out what makes the organization successful.
Control systems – Costco has an Enterprise Facility Information management system, each Costco is connected to corporate, the EFIM provides real-time information, management of control systems (like energy), and an inventory management system that allows suppliers to monitor their own stock levels at any Costco. The EFIM reduces costs related to energy consumption, maintenance, and contracted services
Best Buy, one of the biggest consumer electronics retailers in the world, provides products from smartphone, computers to large electronic appliances. It aims at offering a large variety of products with outstanding customer service at a comparably economical price. Yet, it has been facing internal and external challenges in the recent years. Bottom line and the share price are slightly catching up after a fall in 2013 but still barely satisfying the shareholders and customers are changing their purchasing habits which may threaten its future.
Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., formerly called Hobby Lobby Creative Centers and is a private for-profit, closely held corporation which owns a chain of American arts and craft stores that are managed by corporate employees. The company headquarters is in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Best Buy’s History & Main Characters: Best Buy is Minneapolis-based and is North America's leading specialty retailer of consumer electronics, personal computers, entertainment software and appliances. Throughout Best Buy's 37-year history, the company has maintained the tradition of making life fun and easy for customers and employees, while providing a significant return to partners and investors. It has 80,000 employees and over 550 stores in the U.S., in addition to the brands Best Buy Canada, Future Shop and Magnolia Hi-Fi. Their leadership is led by Dick Schulze, Founder and Chairman, Brad Anderson, Vice Chairman and CEO, Al Lenzmeier, President and COO, and Darren Jackson, Executive Vice President of Finance and CFO. Chairman Dick Schulze founded Best Buy in 1966 with the Sound of Music, an audio component systems store in St. Paul, Minn. In 1973, Vice Chairman and CEO Brad Anderson joined Sound of Music as a salesperson. The company quickly expanded into video products and computers, was renamed Best Buy in 1983, and became a public company in 1985. Best Buy’s revenues for fiscal year 2003 were $20.9 billion and net earnings of $622 million. It was ranked number 91 on the Fortune 500 in 2003 (Bestbuy.com). Best Buy stores are redefining the way customers shop by offering an unparalleled assortment of affordable, easy-to-use entertainment and technology products and services available through its network of more than 550 retail stores in 48 states and online at BestBuy.com. Best Buy is scheduled to open 60 new stores in fiscal 2003 and is on track to have 650 stores by fiscal 2005. Magnolia Hi-Fi is a high-end electronics retailer specializing in audio and video solutions for homes, ...
The best companies embrace change and make plans to create a future for their business like Amazon did. Amazon did not have to wait very long for their strategy to take affect because that the way that the future of business was going. All they did was waiting until the demand flourished and took over the book giant’s like Barnes and Noble and Borders market share. This proves that Amazon did their research and plan accordable so that their demand matches their supply. This also shows the type of value chain process and evaluation that they did in order to continue to conduct business which is quite genius. Their demand has increasable giving them many opportunities to expand. ...