This is the fourth in a series of articles that ask you how you feel about certain companies. Today, we
look at Best Buy. When we evaluate a retail environment, I think two areas stand out: Ease of level of experience and customer service.
Brand is not what a company says or even does, it is how you and I perceive what a company says and does and how they meet our expectations. Nothing else matters but your perception. Whatever you believe about a business is their brand image to you. And you matter because businesses depend upon your purchasing power and your loyalty for profitability. So what do you think and feel about Best Buy? Do they live up to the following, which describes how they think of themselves:
Best Buy, an innovative and growing Fortune 100 company, strives to make life fun and easy for millions of people across North America. Our mission is to give our customers great experiences – whether they are shopping for consumer electronics, home-office products, entertainment software and appliances, or using those products and related-services in their homes and offices.
- Best Buy is growing its business by:
• Converting more stores to the customer-centric operating model. - Adding new stores to better serve existing and new markets.
- Expanding and strengthening service offerings.
- Boosting employee retention in order to deliver better customer experiences while increasing productivity.
- Adding individualized marketing capabilities to our skills in mass marketing.
- Simplifying our internal processes so they respond better to
changing customers’ needs.
Best Buy is part of where you live. That's why we go to great lengths to give back to all the communities that have been so generous to us.
In addition to donating 1.5% of our pre-tax earnings to local and national giving programs, our community-related activities include volunteerism, scholarships, partnerships, recycling opportunities and other programs designed to improve quality of life for us all.
- Best Buy was named a Fortune Blue Ribbon Company for being recognized on the publication’s Fortune 500 (No. 76), Global 500 (No. 191), Most Admired (No. 2 in Specialty Retailer category) and Global Most Admired (No. 2 in Specialty Retailer category) lists.
- Best Buy ranked fifth in Forbes list of Most Charitable Companies by donating $18.8 million in 2004, 1.1 percent of the previous year’s income (November 14, 2005).
- Best Buy ranked ninth in customer service in a survey sponsored by the National Retailer Federation and American Express (November 2005).
- Best Buy held the No. 1 position on the Stores ranking of the Top 100 Specialty Retailers (August 2005).
P.S. In each installment of this series, I will share how a business wants to see itself and how they want you to perceive them. What we need from you is your honest observations and feelings about how you perceive that company. The only way to have your voice heard is to express your opinions, whether or not you want change or want a business to be the way it used to be or want a business to stay just as it is or want a business just to go away. I assure you the businesses I feature will hear you loud and clear.
I seldom posts my replies to your comments in this series, although I will respond to you via email. Instead, I turn this weekly post over to you.
