Though we’ve been aware of this “Best Buy On” adventure for some time, this week Advertising Age reported that Best Buy company had officially rolled it out saying that it is, “…a multichannel network filled with original editorial content spanning everything from how-to videos and gift guides to new-technology primers and behind-the-scenes looks at popular movies. The network, called Best Buy On, includes a website it bills as an “online magazine” and a huge in-store component with its content and ad messaging “broadcast” on screens across the store, including in the TV, mobile and portable entertainment sections.”
In today’s online media, content must be shareable, give me added value world, “On” is a brilliant strategy to be deeply involved in delivering high value content for a variety of needs and create even more reasons to lean on Best Buy for ones technology.
There is a lot of content at Best Buy On, but we went there today specifically to seek any content related to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) going on right now in Las Vegas. Take a peek at this CES press preview where the Best Buy crew shot video:
CES is THE place for most manufacturers in the world to rollout their new gadgets and tech. Today we’ve been viewing videos, listening to podcasts and reading blog posts about all the hot introductions at CES in anticipation for tomorrow’s recording of the Minnov8 Gang podcast.
Here’s the potential problem with how easy it is to be plugged in to CES’ introductions: Consumers who are interested in knowing what’s coming in the near future are consuming that exact same content! I’ve often wondered: wouldn’t consumers knowing the next generation technology shown at CES this week virtually kill the sales of the current products on the Best Buy shelves today? It stands to reason that if someone sees the next, hottest, must-have gadget in some CES recap online (and we can safely assume that that product will be on store shelves within weeks), wouldn’t consumers just wait to buy that new one?
Maybe…maybe not. Since the the watchword for any retailer is “sell what’s on the shelves,” peek at this CES-centric video and see how beautifully Best Buy has simply mentioned CES with scenes ostensibly showing a glimpse of the future, but instead emphasizing what they have in store, in stock, right now:
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS
The Good: The site is beautifully done and easy to navigate. The categories of videos and other content are nicely targeted. The open source Kaltura player they use for playing the videos is embeddable for easy content sharing by bloggers and social media users. The content is very fun to watch and is quite entertaining.
The Bad: Video is maybe too slick and too high level. As I viewed several of the videos, blog posts and other content on Best Buy On, I realized that my reaction was that I was pretty certain that I’d probably not watch any more of them. Nor would it be likely I’d pass any of them along to the “newbies” in my life since the content is too “lite” to properly educate a newbie. Though I’ll check back in a few weeks to see what new content is up, the current videos are, unfortunately, as informative as a spec sheet or pamphlet.
What I’d *really* like to see are deep and comprehensive How-To videos that literally walk someone through challenging integrations in the home and are solutions-oriented. When I bought my home theater setup with new HDTV at Best Buy Eden Prairie, I’m enough of a geek that there was NO question in my mind I’d set it up myself but it turned out to be A LOT more complex than I’d anticipated.
It seems that the HDMI copy protection, Sony A/V receiver that didn’t pass HDMI audio through to the TV, a Sony BluRay player that didn’t output audio with interactive DVDs without significant changes to the settings, and a few other “gotchas,” were obstacles to a simple setup. It also made me realize why “Joe SixPack” needs the Geek Squad, but that thought angered me since this shouldn’t be that hard and most non-geeks would be forced to pay to have all of this stuff hooked up for them.
Not that Best Buy On How-to videos would be intended to replace the Geek Squad, but I can see that it would be an enormous value-add for those of us capable of figuring it out on our own…but with a little help from “On” videos. Of course, a tech-literate future customer base is what Best Buy will inherit in the not-too-distant future and these tech-savvy consumers will demand that sort of help (and if I were Best Buy On management, I’d certainly pressure vendors to pay for those How-to videos for their products!).
All that said, I am continually impressed by the risk-taking and willingness to try different approaches by the team at Best Buy. As THE dominant player in the marketplace, many organizations would simply sit on their hands and enjoy the position of strength. But not these folks at Best Buy….they’re not only continuing to innovate, they’re accelerating their innovation!