Best Buy cutting 2,000 managers

[NickNitro]

Best Buy has a major cost-cutting operation in the works, and the code word is “pink slip.”

The nation’s biggest electronics chain — which saw sales fall 2.6 percent during the Christmas selling season because of a price war with Amazon — has begun laying off thousands of midlevel managers nationwide as it girds for even more competition, The Post has learned.

After slashing hundreds of jobs at Best Buy’s Minneapolis HQ last year and closing unprofitable stores, CEO Hubert Joly is now swinging the ax across the retailer’s 1,056 US big-box stores and regional offices, according to insiders briefed on the plans.

No store closings are planned in this latest round of cuts, and the exact number of pink slips hasn’t yet been confirmed. But one insider said layoffs could affect upward of 2,000 managers and supervisors.
“This is ripping off the Band-Aid,” one Minneapolis source told The Post, noting that Joly is making the layoffs in a hurry to avoid uncertainty and prolonged pain.

http://nypost.com/2014/02/26/best-buy-cutting-2000-managers/

 

[james-in-cali]

Great now the customer service at best buys will be even worse! Or is that just a California thing?

 

[Drizzle]

Is this the beginning of the end for Best Buy? Will it go the way of Nobody Beats the Wiz?

 

[NickNitro]

Great now the customer service at best buys will be even worse! Or is that just a California thing?

They suck soo bad here in Orlando where I go. Everyone there sucks. And they have like 1 person at the register...ALWAYS. I've never seen 2 registers opened at once there.

 

[Duke]

Bummer for BestBuy, they're just being outmuscled by Amazon, which offers better prices & awesome shipping.

 

[Figs]

I think it's terrible that many people are losing their jobs but at the same time I love how Best Buy got their ass kicked a bit by Amazon. Amazon price matches and Best Buy has always been pretty damn expensive. Another example of a huge corporation that overprices items even though for quite a few years they were making a **** ton of money. Sadly, instead of learning their lesson they're just laying workers off instead of actually trying to compete with Amazon's price matching.

 

[Drizzle]

I've noticed more often than not that Best Buy is the one that price matches Amazon the closest, if not the same.

 

[NickNitro]

You figure BestBuy would look at what happened to Circuit City and realize "you know...we need to overhaul our image and business model"

 

[Figs]

I've noticed more often than not that Best Buy is the one that price matches Amazon the closest, if not the same.

I had no idea they price matched. Then again, I haven't bought anything from them in quite a few years. Their selection of movies, primarily horror films kind of sucks.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Booksamillion should price match. Their movie prices are outrageous.

 

[Duke]

Booksamillion should price match. Their movie prices are outrageous.

They'll go the way of the dodo, if they don't.

 

[Warhammer]

Haha, Booksamillion is trying to hustle.

 

[charl_huntress]

I used to really like Best Buy, but I find their selection to be slipping.

 

[antsman41]

The reason BB is struggling is price matching. They mark down ~60% of their sales, which is 'good' to keep the sale... but is it worth it when your losing out on the margin?

Having pretty knowledgeable employees just isn't worth it for these electronics big-box stores, because other big-box places like Wal-Fart and Target get away with paying people who can't even shower everyday to sell to more people all because it's 'easier and cheaper' for the companies and the customers.

 

[Warhammer]

I feel like Best Buy really overemphasizes the importance of a knowledgeable employee. Don't a decent amount of people either do their own research prior to walking into the store or do a comparison themselves without somebody talking them to death? And then we have the ones who simply don't give a damn if this _____ does something a little better than _____. If they want a Sony, they are getting a Sony. They'll compare the price and do their own pros and cons.

I know when I go into a Best Buy, I don't give a f*** what an employee tries to say to me. I tell them that I'm fine and do the damn thing my self. Like antsman said, Wal-Mart and Target get away with it. When I worked at Target for a little bit, aside from the one or two people who'd ask me a question, mostly everyone rolled up in there and bought what they wanted to buy without my help.

 

[Teelie]

You figure BestBuy would look at what happened to Circuit City and realize "you know...we need to overhaul our image and business model"

Probably they saw it as an oppurtunity to corner the market with one less competitor instead of examining why that competitor is out of business. I remember when Circuit City was the Best Buy of it's day (well Best Buy of a decade ago) and then Circuit City failed to modernize and now Best Buy is failing to modernize. I'm sure there will be a new replacement for them at some point but if the cycle repeats, eventually that business will fail too.

 

[Warhammer]

Yeah, HhGregg.

 

[Destructus86]

Come on...no one shops at Best Buy anymore unless they like overpaying.

 

[Hal_Jordan]

Great now the customer service at best buys will be even worse! Or is that just a California thing?

I was shopping in a Best Buy while I watched three employees all standing next to a phone that was ringing the entire time I was there. They never answered it and seemed completely oblivious that it was even ringing. I don't know how they ignored it, because it was so annoying I almost went over and answered it myself.

 

[NickNitro]

Come on...no one shops at Best Buy anymore unless they like overpaying.

18 months no interest on my BB card. Can't beat that ish when buying a new console.....

 

[Thundercrack85]

They suck soo bad here in Orlando where I go. Everyone there sucks. And they have like 1 person at the register...ALWAYS. I've never seen 2 registers opened at once there.

That seems to be a nation wide phenomena.

 

[Wolfwood]

I notice a lot of Best Buys are moving to smaller store locations. The one by my house moved to a store that is probably a quarter of the size of the original one.

 

[Thundercrack85]

I've seen stores that had entire sections for vacuum cleaners. Do people really buy vacuum cleaners at Best Buy?

 

[Hobgoblin]

I like Best Buy. I recycle my old electronics there.

 

[chaseter]

I thought the economy was improving?