Best Buy Appliance Sales Job Description

Best Buy is scheduled to conduct an earnings conference call at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time (7:00 a.m. Central Time) on May 24, 2022. A webcast of the call is expected to be available at www.investors.bestbuy.com, both live and after the call.

best buy appliance sales job description

Sound of Music operated nine stores throughout Minnesota by 1978.[25] In 1981, the Roseville, Minnesota, Sound of Music location, at the time the largest and most profitable Sound of Music store, was hit by a tornado.[22] The store's roof was sheared off and showroom destroyed, but the storeroom was left intact.[22][26] In response, Schulze decided to have a "Tornado Sale" of damaged and excess stock in the damaged store's parking lot.[22] He poured the remainder of his marketing budget into advertising the sale, promising "best buys" on everything.[26] Sound of Music made more money during the four-day sale than it did in a typical month.[23]

In 1983, with seven stores and $10 million in annual sales, Sound of Music was renamed Best Buy Company, Inc.[25][26] The company also expanded its product offerings to include home appliances and VCRs, in an attempt to expand beyond its then-core customer base of 15- to 18-year-old males. Later that year, Best Buy opened its first superstore in Burnsville, Minnesota.[26] The Burnsville location featured a high-volume, low-price business model, which was borrowed partially from Schulze's successful Tornado Sale in 1981.[22][26] In its first year, the Burnsville store out-performed all other Best Buy stores combined.[23][24]

Best Buy was taken public in 1985, and two years later it debuted on the New York Stock Exchange.[27][28] In 1988, Best Buy was in a price and location war with Detroit-based appliance chain Highland Superstores, and Schulze attempted to sell the company to Circuit City for US$30 million. Circuit City rejected the offer, claiming they could open a store in Minneapolis and "blow them away."[29]

In 1989, the company introduced a new store concept dubbed "Concept II".[24][27] Concept II replaced dimly lit industrial-style stores with brighter and more fashionably fixtured stores.[24] Stores also began placing all stock on the sales floor rather than in a stock room, had fewer salespersons and provided more self-help product information for its customers.[27][28] Best Buy also did away with commissioned salespeople.[22][27] The commission-free sales environment "created a more relaxed shopping environment free of the high-pressure sales tactics used in other stores," but was unpopular with salespersons and suppliers.[27] Upset that their products would no longer be pushed by salespeople, some suppliers such as Maytag, Whirlpool, and Sony stopped selling in Best Buy stores altogether.[22][23] The suppliers returned after Best Buy's sales and revenue grew following the roll-out of Concept II.[26]

In May 2006, Best Buy acquired a majority interest in Chinese appliance retailer Jiangsu Five Star Appliance for $180 million. At the time of the deal, Jiangsu was the fourth-largest appliance chain in China with 193 stores across eight Chinese provinces.[50] In June, the company opened Geek Squad precincts at Office Depot in Orlando, Florida.[45] The market test was later expanded to Denver.[51]

In June 2009, Brian J. Dunn became Best Buy CEO. Dunn replaced Brad Anderson, who was retiring.[66] Dunn had joined Best Buy in 1985 as a sales associate. In 2000, Dunn became senior vice president of East Coast operations and president of North American retail operations in 2004. His most recent position was as president of Best Buy since 2006.[67]

An increasing trend towards online shopping began to erode revenues and profits in the 2010s. A 4% dip in sales for the June 30, 2014, quarter, marked the 10th quarter in a row where Best Buy's sales had declined. The company, in announcing the result, said it was focusing more on digital media in its marketing, moving away from newspaper, magazine, and television advertising.[79]

Despite an increase in sales of computer equipment due to an increase in remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, Best Buy laid off over 5,000 employees in early 2021 and forced many others into part-time positions.[84]

Best Buy sells consumer electronics and a variety of related merchandise, including software, video games, music, mobile phones, digital cameras, car stereos, and video cameras, in addition to home appliances (washing machines, dryers, and refrigerators), in a noncommissioned sales environment.[2] Under the Geek Squad brand, Best Buy offers computer repair, warranty service, and accidental service plans.[2] Best Buy provides an online community forum for members, where consumers can discuss product experiences, ask questions, and get answers from other members or retail product experts.[86]

In 2000, two Florida consumers brought a lawsuit against the company, alleging that it engaged in fraudulent business practices related to the sale of extended warranties (or, more accurately, service plans). The suit claimed that store employees had misrepresented the manufacturer's warranty to sell its own Product Service/Replacement Plan and that Best Buy had "entered into a corporate-wide scheme to institute high-pressure sales techniques involving the extended warranties" and that the company used "artificial barriers to discourage consumers who purchased the 'complete extended warranties' from making legitimate claims."[90] The company ultimately settled for $200,000, but admitted no wrongdoing.[91]

In the second quarter of 2007, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal ordered an investigation into the company's use of an in-store website alleged to have misled customers on item sales prices.[93] In December 2007, the Los Angeles Times reported on the same issue, in which some customers claimed they thought they were surfing the Internet version of bestbuy.com at an in-store kiosk only to learn that the site reflected in-store prices only. In response, company spokesperson Sue Busch indicated the in-store kiosks were not intended for price-match purposes and rather were a means to navigate in-store availability. Since the initial investigation, a banner was placed on the in-store site to make its customers more aware of the difference.[94]

Best Buy already anticipated slower sales after seeing a boom in demand for home theaters, office equipment, kitchen appliances and benefitting from stimulus dollars. Yet in late July, it cut its sales forecast for the second quarter and full year, saying consumers are skipping over big-ticket items as they get hit by inflation.

Walmart, Shopify and Peloton are also laying off workers as sales demand slows. Walmart cut about 200 corporate employees, according to people familiar with the matter. Shopify laid off roughly 1,000 workers. And Peloton said Friday that it is slashing about 780 jobs.

Best Buy understands that such a tracking system has thepotential to have a negative effect on the culture, so they instruct managementto use the metrics only as a coaching tool. Unfortunately, there is a bigdifference between the theory espoused and the theory in use. These sales metrics arebeing used in performance appraisals and to promote/demote employees.

Another point of pride for Best Buy is that their employeesare better trained and better educated than the competition. I certainly holdthat to be true, but that advantage has been diminished by recent strategy. Afew years back Best Buy restructured to eliminate many of the full-time andhigher paid sales positions. This allowed them to increase the number of salespeople available to serve customers by hiring more part-time employees at lowerwages. In short, they chose to sacrifice quality in favor of quantity. Hiringmore employees at lower wages can work well in some business models, especiallywith non-technical positions, but I would argue it was a bad move for Best Buy.In the end, this hurts customer experience, decreases employee retention, andleads to an undifferentiated work force.

Though these criticisms may seem harsh, I sincerely want tosee Best Buy succeed in the future, and not just because I own stock. Best Buywas my launching platform into the tech world. They paid for a big chunk of myschool, allowed me to transfer between stores, and my immediate supervisorswithin Geek Squad were some of the best I could ever hope to have.

So where should you make your next major appliance purchase? We go over some of the top-ranked retailers below. While the overall rankings from the Consumer Reports survey are helpful, it's more important to know if a store even delivers to your area or has the brands you want.

Only one national chain made it into Consumer Reports' top five (Costco, 4th place). Regional appliance retailers otherwise dominate the top of the list, with Chicago-area Abt Electronics taking the number one spot.

As for price, most national appliance sellers fell somewhere in the middle while many regional retailers scored above average. However, per the survey, Costco provides the best appliance deals overall.

This Chicagoland-based retailer not only specializes in small and large appliances, it also sells consumer electronics, furniture, and mattresses. It tops Consumer Reports' list of best places to buy appliances for the 11th year in a row and delivers to all 50 states plus Puerto Rico.

Costco's fourth-place ranking on Consumer Reports' list of where to buy appliances is largely due to its outstanding deals. Although it's a members-only warehouse, non-members can also buy from Costco; however, non-members will be on the hook for an additional fee.

Overstock, Best Buy, The Home Depot and Appliances Connection are among the retailers who have already set their holiday savings events live. Vital pieces, such as this Reviewed-loved GE GTW720BSNWS top-loading washer, are available for 15% off the regular price of $849, now going for at $699. We named this machine the best top-loading washer under $1,000 for its power and speed (its normal cycle removed more stains than even the deep clean setting, and it did so in just 45 minutes!). It was simultaneously one of the gentlest washers on clothes we've ever tested. 041b061a72