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Best Buy’s New Stealth Channel
Best Buy also touts its routine Web functions, such as the “ability to check pricing, product availability by store, specifications, descriptions, images, and ratings & reviews” and “product fulfillment through home delivery or in-store pick up.” Granted, the in-store pick up sort of kills the stealth function.
The theory is that this approach should allow Best Buy to split operations in two, with one part of the company (the 99 percent part) focused on the same brand-centric efforts to get people into the stores, visiting the Web site, accessing mobile information and discussing it on various social sites.
Then this new part can focus on generating revenue in a more modest, more invisible way—checking its logo and ego at the virtual door and allowing partners to control and maintain the experience, both from a functionality and a visual perspective. Given that the partners do all of the work, some deliciously high-margin results could be had. After all, Best Buy’s purpose is to sell as many products as it can as profitably as it can. Will it work and produce lots of stealth wealth? Will this latest API effort prove healthy and stealthy?
The answer lies in a powerful brand that, candidly, can cut both ways. Customer-service obsessed brands such as Nordstrom, Rolex and Mercedes-Benz have decided that people will buy because of those brands and pay a premium for it. But every time a Geek Squad manager is caught selling pictures borrowed from a repaired laptop or the company gets creative interpreting price-match policies, it’s going to be nice for Best Buy to have a stealth channel where the Best Buy brand is hardly mentioned.
That’s not a knock against Best Buy. Any chain that is going to fight on price is going to upset groups of customers, whether it’s Wal-Mart, Target or Best Buy. Although a strong brand will have far more good associations than bad, it will always have both. Why not leverage the good feelings customers already have for various niche partners and let the brand name sometimes be silent?
-Marc
October 14th, 2010 at 8:17 am
Pleased to see you recognizing this quite new initiative and calling it out. I had done extensive research and interviews with the Best Buy team recently and this is one part of their digital media strategy which is going to be a big winner.