Groucho

I've never seen that in any of the Best Buys I've been in. It's always open shelves, grab your game and take it up front. Never been stopped to show my receipt either.

Ginwen

The one time I preordered a game at Best Buy (via one of those boxes where you pay $5 for the box and get a disk and stuff in it--I wanted the stuff whatever it was), when I went there the afternoon the came out, no one seemed to know the game existed. I ended up buying it somewhere else.

So actually having the game in a place it can be found on the day it comes out would be a big help. Even if it's cheaper at BB I have no confidence I'll get it, plus at the closest best buy they combine in-store pickup with credit card apps, so I will pay extra elsewhere to avoid standing in a line for 30 minutes or more.

Obi-Wanma

Same with every Best Buy I've been in.

I mean they are all in security cases that you need them to take off at the register, but there is actual product on the shelves that you pick up and bring to the register yourself.

Depending on the store though, I do sometimes get asked to show my reciept at the door.

pinata242

Well, we've learned the heartland is full of a bunch of crooks.

Groucho

It would be nice if in-store pickup was it's own line. I always end up behind some Fat Wallet guy who holds up the line for 15 minutes arguing with the manager over a grey-area deal.

Raul3

They just started locking NEW games here in California too. Just new releases, the rest are still available for browsing.

Michael Corvin

My BB keeps 2-3 weeks worth of new releases locked in a small cage before they hit the main shelves.

Yeah, picking up at the CS counter is a HUGE fucking drawback. I'd rather go somewhere else than wait in that line. If the regular register jockeys can't handle pre-order pick-ups the game will be bought elsewhere.

edstein

Stop bundling $70 hdmi cables with consoles.

Groucho

Better yet, partner with Monoprice and start offering sensible prices for cables altogether. Best Buy could literally sell cables at 90% less than what they are selling them at now and still make a huge profit margin.

fujishig

They usually do have an in-store pickup line, it's just that it's never manned or manned by the same people that do the customer service line.

sniper308

100% agree... Amazon gets my $ because of price, the added credit deals they offer on new purchases, and great customer service.


This is also a huge factor. I simply cannot stand when Best Buy runs a game on sale to the general public when they are also running an "exclusive" deal for Reward Zone members and then refuse to let both be honored.

What I'd like to see more of is the texted offers that are actually good prices on new release games. Also, when these deals are offered it would be great if the cashiers/customer service and even managers knew what these actually were and didn't treat the customer trying to redeem a legitimate offer like a criminal. Its simply not cool for employees in a store like this not to understand the offers that are going out, and definitely not good when management is also ignorant of the program. See my post here for more info on my experience with this:

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/video-game-...l#post10055268

The only thing I'd try to copy from the game specific stores such as GameStop would be some of the hype such as midnight launches, etc. Otherwise I generally stay away from GS. For used games, I generally head to Disc Replay, and mainly because its extremely low key and has excellent prices on used games.

kstublen

I'm not a huge gamer, but I buy my fair share of Nintendo Catalog releases and PlayStation 3 games. Here's just some general input, and I'm sure it builds on what others have said.

Price
-Obviously this is the biggest thing. It's ridiculous to price a PS3 game at MSRP on release-week. DVDs and CDs are all discounted (some more so than others) for the first week and then go back up to MSRP or some other higher price after that initial week is over. I don't understand why games can't be done the same way.
-You really can't beat Amazon. Even if they sell their game for a few bucks less (usually it's at least ten bucks less), you still don't have to pay sales tax, which is a huge draw. This means that Best Buy has to significantly undercut Amazon's pricing. Of course, Amazon could always respond by further lowering the prices, but if I'm already at Best Buy and the difference is only a dollar or two in taxes, I might pick it up. If you're discounting a game by ten bucks, I'll won't care as much about paying taxes.

General Promotions
-Offer more in-game exclusives, but don't use this as an excuse to jack up the price. If I can get something on Amazon for $50 or Best Buy for $50 and the Best Buy game comes with an exclusive download, I'll go for the Best Buy game.
-Offer better pre-order policies. It would be great if Best Buy gave me a $10 Gift Card with the purchase of a game. I'm going to spend that $10 Gift Card and more money in return. They did this with Punch Out for Wii, which is why I bought it there.
-Use what Best Buy did for Batman: Arkham Asylum as a template. When I got that game at Best Buy, I also received a Gift Card and a Batman: Animated DVD. Stuff like that is more likely to get me to buy from Best Buy than from Amazon.

Gamer's Club
-The whole extra points thing is confusing. My points in Gamer's Club are constantly fluctuating; appearing, disappearing, reappearing. I think instead, just give me double-points or something when I buy a game, or make the point calculation and its relation to the main Reward Zone more obvious.
-Better coupons. As I mentioned above, I bought Punch Out for Wii at Best Buy because of the $10 Gift Card, which was available on Gamer's Club. The stuff I see on there now is really weak in comparison.

General Comments
-As Groucho said, I love that the games aren't in a locked case. Whenever I go to Target or Wal-Mart or anywhere else it is always such a hassle to have employees unlock the case for me; it takes forever to find them.
-I think a used program at Best Buy is a bad idea.

FatTony

Amazon's $10 discount on preorders is what keeps me going to them (in spite of the fact that I have to pay tax with them). I'm on a cycle where I basically get every new game I preorder for $10 off the list price, plus a couple of bucks usually. If BB's going to get my gaming dollars away from Amazon, they'll have to compete with what Amazon's doing on that front.

On the used game front, if BB can beat what other used game businesses offer, then you'll get my games in a heartbeat. Also, don't sell used games that are less than a month old for only $5 off MSRP. Chances are Amazon's price on a new copy is going to beat that.

I guess the bottom line is if Best Buy can compete with what Amazon's doing, you'll have a better chance at my gaming dollars.

Oh, and change out the games you have in the game stations more often! At least every week or two. New games come out every week, there's no reason New Super Mario Bros. should still be the only Wii game available to play over 4 months after its release.

fumanstan

Like others, it's all about price. I don't really believe in retailer loyalty for things like that. If i'm buying a game and it's $60 everywhere else, i'll probably buy where it's $56. Amazon wins 90% of the time because of no tax and gaming credit.

Things like Reward Zone don't offer much to me.

stingermck

Honestly one thing turned me off games at Best Buy: release dates. So many times I would go to the store on release date on my lunch break to get a game. Either its the wrong day, truck hasn't arrived, or they don't carry it. That was just frustrating, and a waste of time. That's when I started pre-ordering my games from Amazon.

Giantrobo

You know, reading this thread serioulsy makes me want to start buying my games from Amazon. Seriously.


1. Do you like/know about the Gamers Reward Zone program? Yes. But I've yet to truly benefit from it.

2. What could we do to make our pre-order process better? Don't know, I never pre-order from BB.

3. If Best Buy had an in-store 'trade in' program (like Gamestop), would you be more likely to shop there? Possibly, provided that BB gave good trade in value.

4. If Best Buy had an in-store 'trade in' program, what would you like to see from it? Not sure

For me to make BB my "Gaming Center":

1. PRICE....I only buy MUST HAVE games for 59.99. For other games, I can wait for price drops or finding them used.

Solution: BB MUST figure out a way to get games to me cheaper. The cheaper they are, the more I'll buy from you.


2. Game Sections...they used to be ok but now the wall of games racks you guys use are annoying as hell. Poor lighting, games behind games so you can't see the title cards, and having bend down to dig through the stacks makes me NOT want to bother.

fumanstan

Why don't you?

Good points about the shelving too. I hate Best Buy's display, with the plastic spacers and having to sift through games.

Release dates and just having stock during sales is a big deal too. With Best Buy and other retail stores, a game could be on sale for $40 and you go in on Sunday and they'll be out of stock. Amazon these days match those prices, and you don't have to worry about wasted trips to store. Instant gratification is great, but it also feels worse when you get the let down of something being out of stock

Giantrobo

Because I want the games in Hand when I buy them. This is the one advantage B&M's will have over Online ordering. But even that "advantage" will go away if the B&M's aren't careful.

Groucho

That's the great thing about Amazon Prime. I pre-order a game, I get on release day -- it's waiting for me when I get home. No side trips to Best Buy where nobody's heard of the game and/or it's out of stock despite being featured on nearly every page of their weekly ad.

Supermallet

I didn't know Best Buy had a separate Gamer Reward Zone program. That's just stupid. My Reward Zone card I use out of habit, but even that doesn't make a huge benefit, because of how many points I have to spend to get a few bucks off, in a coupon that doesn't show up for months, then expires relatively quickly. I'm certainly not going to sign up for a second program and juggle cards and accounts.

Like most people here, I use Amazon. Base prices are cheaper, no tax, gift certificates to use for future purchases (that arrive in a reasonable amount of time), and usually a pre-order bonus on top of it. And it arrives on the day of release. How could Best Buy top that? I spend no money on gas, and my next purchase is $10-$20 cheaper.

I think the best thing Best Buy could do is offer $10 certificates that can be used anywhere in the store and that come with the purchase of the game (don't allow refunds without the bundled certificate), and an additional $10 certificate for people who pre-order. I'd definitely buy some more games at Best Buy if I knew that doing so would aid me in the purchase of a new TV, or an iPad, etc.

dx23

You don't need separate cards for the Gamer Reward Zone. Is the same card for both, but the only thing is that you have to join Gamer Reward Zone in the Reward Zone site. Is the third tab under communities and clubs.

Supermallet

Meh. I get all my games from Amazon now anyway.

dsa_shea

I think you guys gave Tarantino plenty of reading material. I figured that this thread would have about 5-10 posts but it is two pages deep in less than 24 hours.

Darknite39

Price is the main thing that matters to me. I'm a cheapass generally, so every little discount is taken into consideration. I don't shop at Gamestop, but I would browse a selection of used games at BB if they're available for the picking.

tlwizard

Technically, BB does give out $10 GCs with pre-orders. I pre-ordered Alan Wake and it comes with 500 bonus Gamer Reward Zone points which is equivalent to a $10 GC. I don't totally understand the conversion between Gamer Zone and normal Zone but somehow I get bonus points from pre-ordering.

I agree with everyone. Price is the number one factor. If the game is 59.99 at BB (or gamestop or wherever) and is $56.99 at Amazon, I'll go with Amazon. The reason BB gets my Alan Wake preorder is because I have a gift certificate there.

On top of this, I'm surprised no one's mentioned, because I buy video games at Amazon, Amazon generally gives me an extra 5% off through the gold box. Not to mention, as has already been mentioned, they typically give an extra $10 GC on top of this discount on a discount.

BB typically only has big releases and not some of the smaller releases.

it's hard to find games with the shelving system.

It would be great if there was a greater cycle of games allowed to be demoed. I know every best buy has rock band on demo it seems and then one other game. I feel like a long time ago, stores used to have demo stations that had ten different games to try out. Especially since I'm mainly on the PS3, I don't always get a lot of demos, so I will never take a risk on a game. If a store offered me the ability to play a game that I would not otherwise have a chance to play, I would visit more often. (And I've decided that at least at the BBs I go to, the same people play these games all the time. I don't think they have Rock Band at home and I don't think they have any intention to ever purchase it, they just come into the store with their friends and play until it's time to go home.)

I would also appreciate it if the staff actually knew what they were doing. I know this isn't always under someone's control, but when I purchased the Alan Wake preorder, the cashier tried to keep the pre-order box. I insisted to her that I needed it because there was a code inside but she insisted that I was wrong. 5 minutes later, the manager let me take the box. It made me feel like I was a scuzzy person. On a similar note, I went in some time ago to take advantage of the Sherlock Holmes free ticket/XBLA promo and NO ONE in the gaming department knew what I was talking about. I got a manager and the advertisement and they still had no clue what it was. I went to the two closest BBs within NYC and it was the same at both places.

For some of the bigger larger Collector Editions, the security measures destroy the item. I went to get Bioshock 2 LE and the spider web security device had cut through all the boxes. I had to settle for buying a damaged box.

To BB's credit, they have gotten a lot better at competing with Amazon and Gamestop with preorder bonuses. But if you really want to shine, you would do better than them. BB already does special DVD or Blu-ray releases, why not do this with video games. I preordered Red Dead Redemption at Gamestop for two reasons... coupon gave me 25% off coupled with a $10 GC back on top of which the gamestop version is the only special edition version available with an included soundtrack.

As for used games/trade-in program, I honestly don't care about that because ebay will always treat me better.

I had some other thoughts but I lost them in the writing of this really long post. But I will say that I have all these problems, but I take them with a grain of salt. Best Buy is a big box store that sells video games, it's not a video game store. And so for that reason, most everything above is forgivable, but that's also why I only visit when there's an incredible deal that beats out Amazon.