Best Buy is coming to the UK, but only when it is good and ready, according to the US electricals retailer’s international chief executive Bob Willett, speaking at this year’s Retail Week Conference in London.
Slated for a spring 2010 opening, already delayed from the original plan of a UK launch some time this year, the entrance of Best Buy has incumbent retailers like DSGi and Kesa scrambling to up their game.
It looks like they could get even more breathing space if a couple of key aspects are not in place by the proposed open date. One of these is an adequate supply chain infrastructure that can guarantee 98 per cent availability in stores and next day delivery.
The second is a highly competent and motivated sales workforce that will take an active interest and have a say in the running of the business.
If Willett has his way, the days of trying to buy electrical goods from the spotty, teenaged Saturday boy who knows nothing about the store’s products and cares even less about customer service will be gone – a change in UK electricals retailing that can’t come soon enough.
Already, incumbents are reacting to Best Buy’s advent with moves like store refreshes, but it’s probable even they aren’t quite prepared for the sort of shake-up Willett is hoping to bring.
In an uncharacteristically frank presentation for such a business leade, he described how Best Buy’s distribution centres were underutilising space and ran at 40 per cent capacity for much of the year.
This has since been tightened up and the retailer shares parts of its delivery fleet with other businesses. He told the audience this level of collaboration has been met with hostility in the UK, but it’s an indication of how far he wants to go beyond the level of efficiencies retailers currently expect – getting the right product to the right customer at the right time.
(Photo: Ian Muttoo, CC2.0)
