LJG765

I haven't been in the local BB store lately, so not sure what they've done to the DVD/BR section, so just commenting on what I've read here. I, personally, don't think it'd be such a big deal to have mixed media. However, I know what the difference between the two types are. My local area has a great number of older people who do not. So, I think the problem is more for the store employees when the customer brings back an open BR saying it's broken and won't play in their DVD player because they grabbed the wrong type.

But, me personally, I think as long as they are priced correctly (which may be a problem), it's fine. I only have to look once for a title, not go to two different spots to find it to compare.

Pizza

I feel you are saying that my opinion isn't valid as you suggest I don't know the basic cost/benefit of change, etc for Best Buy. You don't know any of these same "facts" yet you're using them to say I can't have the opinion I have.
And again, I feel you are saying that my opinion isn't valid (and without doing any kind of research of your own) and putting me down by suggesting I didn't take a basic knowledge course or understand basic business. But now I know I need to take this "intro to marketing class" to post an opinion here because this is such serious stuff.

I'll add that probably the biggest problem I'll run into will be looking at the on-sale cards because now I'll have to double check if the price is on the DVD or the Blu-ray let alone which version of said DVD/blu-ray. A big deal? No. But, still an inconvience.

Goat3001

Your opinion is that you don't like it. I'm not trying to say that isn't valid.

But "With business down I can't fathom why a store would make a change that a percentage of their customer base won't like."... is not an opinion. All I'm trying to say is why it's fathomable that they would make this change.

I'm not telling you to do the actual research here. Nor am I going to do it. All I'm saying is that they did the research and their findings showed that putting the Blu Ray with the DVD's will lead to higher sales. I'm not trying to say anything more than that.

PhantomStranger

The truth of the matter is the new layout makes no sense for Best Buy's core customers and is solely geared to very casual electronics consumers whom buy on impulse. It's a way to shrink the overall size of the media department without giving that fact totally away, because customers can start sensing a business is dying when sudden shrinkages occur in inventory and stock.

Best Buy will soon be out of the media business altogether, so people should start planning for other options if their favorite shopping destination is Best Buy.

Goat3001

I agree. I think with physical media dying out this is their way of making it as impulse friendly as possible. Go in for a set of speakers, leave with a few blu-rays. New releases get their special shelves and displays but I think the people that are walking in solely to buy catalog DVD/BD are now more likely to go to an online retailer for these things. By combining the sections they can save space and get impulse sales through people walking through the aisles.

I also think this is a way to get people to buy Blu-Rays. Cost of BD isn't prohibitive anymore (for lower end stuff). I think when people see that a DVD is 8.99 and the BD is 10.99 it might be a step in getting them to upgrade.

Timber

As long as it's just alphabetical I don't think I really care. Getting rid of categories is a god send. That said you still have to deal with end caps, special displays, bargain bins, and bargain racks that still make it nearly impossible to find anything.

UAIOE

Clearly this is Best Buy's answer to stomping out "showrooming".

"Want to check out your most wanted Blu-Ray in our store, then buy it on Amazon?

Good luck finding it!" - Best Buy CEO

fumanstan

I wouldn't mind both DVD and Blu-ray together in alphabetical order. It makes sense to me, although since I only shop for Blu-ray it would make browsing (the few times I do it) take a bit longer. I don't like categories/genres because of some ambiguity between some titles.

My Best Buy hasn't done it yet.

That'sAllFolks

No, it's not a deal breaker, but it does make things more difficult.

1) You have to guess genre. Does BB consider this a Drama, a Horror or an Action flick? Also, does the employee who stocked this know the correct genre?

2) While it shouldn't be a big deal that DVDs and BDs are together it is distracting. I don't know how many times I was trying to quickly scan titles and thought I found something good, only to see it was a DVD. A minor annoyance, but IT IS AN ANNOYANCE.

It is hard to believe anyone will say, "Oh the BD is sold out, I guess I will just get the DVD?". Add to that the confusion that there will be people who buy a BD thinking they are purchasing a DVD (It's hard to believe, but I've seen it happen).

I haven't heard one good thing from anyone about this, except for when the BB employee who was stocking he movies said "I'm just trying to be positive". And that's only because it;s her job.

Neil M.

The new layout is fine. However, Best Buy would probably be better off just carrying new and recent releases plus a full shelf of sale items that changes every week. I just see a lot of wasted space, especially with physical media. The video game section at my store is bigger than any Gamestop I've been in. It seems to me that they could easily shrink their stores and still carry the products that people are buying.

Josh-da-man

Cluttered and visually unappealing.

The DVDs, which are taller and have thicker, flatter spines, stick out more than the blu-rays, which sort of shrink into the background with their thinner, rounded spines. They also have too many things spine-out instead of face-out which makes it a bit trickier to find specific titles, especially with the kind of shelving BB uses.

DVD Polizei

The "look" of the Blu-ray with DVD is kinda messed up. I also noticed that it would be rather easy to not see the Blu-ray version, if it was next to a DVD version.

Best Buy has Blu-ray titles all over the place. They have them on the endcaps, in areas where they are "under $10" and then in the genre sections as well. It's almost impossible to find a title. I was there for a half-hour just to find Stake Land, which was on an endcap (one of a dozen or so), and none were in the horror section.

SterlingBen

Yeah it is awful, make sure to mention it to every employee you see as well. Hopefully when they receive an overwhelming thumbs down they will change it back.

Double_Oh_7

It's a mess, plain and simple.

Deftones

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/best-b...204637043.html

Alan Smithee

In other news, the sky is blue

I swear anybody on this forum could do a better job than the people in charge of this store. They don't have any more national competition now that Circuit City is out of the picture, yet they're still in trouble. I've already explained how they lost a sale from me this year. With a name like "Best Buy", I think it IS reasonable that customers expect to get the best price from them. Their media section has always been about bringing in customers who wouldn't otherwise go in just to look at electronics; the more they mess that up the more customers they will lose.

bunkaroo

I stopped in the big Downers Grove store yesterday while killing time in the area and at least they hadn't mixed the media sections yet. They seem to run different there - they definitely have more floor space than the average store.

Timber

Seems like they're almost finished with the remodel at my store. I went in for the first time in a while over the weekend I could have sworn I was in Comp USA. Anybody else get that vibe?

islandclaws

I finally went to my local store the other day and saw this. I can't say it's any easier to find a title, and it certainly looks like shit.

If they're failing so miserably, why not go back to their old pricing of no single disc CD above $12.99, movies on sale for cheaper than anywhere else release week, etc.

Once the fire sales start, I'll be there to snatch up the goods, though.

Pizza

Popped in my BB to browse. Finally saw the new system and it stinks. Sure, it's doable if you're running in for a specific title but forget it if you want to browse. I gave up looking. I can only imagine how messier this will get when Xmas shoppers start rummaging through the stuff.

Alan Smithee

And of course when their media sales decline, the consensus will not be any of the obvious reasons, but rather that nobody wants to buy media anymore.

PhantomStranger

They are simply removing the media section in phases. Removing it all at once would hurt whatever value is left in the Best Buy brand. The chain will not be in business within three years.

Brent L

I just had the hardest time finding something in Best Buy because of these idiotic changes, and I flat out told every employee that would listen how stupid and idiotic it was.

All I wanted to do was find the two Criterions The Game and Rosemary's Baby, and it took me, and three other employees also looking for them, almost 30 minutes to find them both. They had no clue what the movies were to start with. They couldn't find them then claimed that they both were being sent back to the warehouse since they were "special seasonal Halloween releases" and they wouldn't stock them after today. Well that was obviously bullshit, and I asked them to check the computer. They did, and found one copy of The Game and five copies of Rosemary's Baby in the system.

Long story short, they had The Game listed in drama (which is fine, I'm not arguing that) but whoever stocked it had it listed in the wrong letter. Not only that, but this happened to be one of the titles they had spine out, and considering how the spine on The Game looks, it's easy for anyone to scan right over it. They didn't even find that one for me, I happened to come across it finally.

For Rosemary's Baby, who knows where they had them listed. It wasn't under horror, drama or even action, and I never could find it. Finally an employee came back with one and said they had all copies of it on the new release stand up front. I guess that makes sense, but that was one of the first places I looked. After they found it and told me that I went to all of the new release stands just to see with my own eyes where it was, and they were nowhere to be found. I have no clue where they dug it out from, but it sure wasn't on any of the new release stands.

Say what you will, but I still say this entire setup is a joke. They told me other customers have also complained about not being able to find anything anymore, so it certainly isn't just a few of us here if they were willing to admit that to me.

Timber

So I'm confused. They're combining DVD's and Blu's AND STILL keeping the genre's? That is an absolute nightmare if that's the case.

And please tell me they had The Game in the C's and not the T's?

PhantomStranger

What's worse is that Best Buy outsourced their media stocking to a third-party company, which means actual Best Buy employees don't know where anything is either, in this new layout. This might be the chain's last Christmas as a viable retailer.