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With the holiday season here, there is more talk about Best Buy — which is also the focus of the chapter opening scenario we use for our retailing and wholesaling chapter.  A BusinessWeek article “Why Tech Bows to Best Buy” (December 10, 2009) the company’s strategy now that its direct competitors have largely gone out of business (see Circuit City) and new competitors Amazon and Wal-Mart are emerging.  Consequently Best Buy has changed its strategy. The article supplements discussions of competition (chapter 3), strategy planning (chapter 4) and retailing.

You can also watch a Wall Street Journal video below, “Best Buy’s Battle Between Sales and Margins” (December 15, 2009) includes an interview ith an analyst who discusses how competition and the need to lower prices has eroded Best Buy’s margins.  A bit more finance oriented, this video might complement a classroom discussion of pricing.

Best Buy is one of the most innovative retailers around in its use of social media.  They are always experimenting.  In “What Best Buy Learned About Service as Marketing and Empowering Employees“AdAge, November 24, 2009 (subscription may be required), we hear how the company has found a creative way to use Twitter.  I still question the value of Twitter to most marketers — I guess it depends on your target market.  What do you think about Twitter?  Should marketers be using it?

This is the viral army of 2,200 Best Buy employees who answer questions and solve customer problems via the customer-care channel we know as Twitter. Self described as “a collective force of Best Buy tech pros offering tech advice in Tweet form,” the program has nearly 15,000 “followers” and it’s growing. Think Apple Genius Bar but without the physical counter.

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