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I am an ex Radioshack employee who knows plenty about home theater. Walmart sells all sorts of brand name Television sets. You obviously haven't even paid attention to their selection as of late, have you? They offer Samsung, Sony, Vizio, LG, Panasonic, Phillips, etc. Unless your some home theater nut, they have pretty much anything that 90% of consumers want. The models numbers are adjusted so that consumers are led to believe they are different than their best buy counterparts. If you really think the motherboard or GPU are any different, than you have been brainwashed. My buddy builds, quotes and orders the microchips that are used to build televisions and appliances. They receive the specifications, engineer the chips to perform to those specs, and then quote the parts by the lowest bidder. The higher the bulk, the less cost. So they aren't going to produce different chips for every model.
I agree with you in regards to the salespeople. Best Buy employees can be very knowledgeable and Walmart's are, for the most part, useless. If your somebody who needs some help in deciding what to buy, I would recommend Best Buy any day. If you are just looking for a TV and know what you want, I would recommend Walmart. Best Buy has good sales every know and then, so you might score a good deal. But overall Walmart is a better value.
Home theater is more audio than video, and as I said Walmart sells nothing for audio. Nothing.
As for the rest, see below. You've been fed the koolaid about one tiny little part of a TV making all the difference, just like people who believe that because the LCD panel comes out of the same factory for a "dsfiluhglsiduh" brand as it does for a Samsung, then the TVs are all the same. It doesn't. It's all the parts, features and performance not found on lower end models that makes the difference. Also, as I already pointed out, Walmart may sell the better brands, but the lower end models of those brands, along with a lot of junk. The model numbers are not adjusted, but WM does have a couple models that only they sell. This is easily verified as I've done dozens of times when confronted with a price driven buyer.
If you're recommending BB as a place to go for info, I think you need to broaden your horizons. They can recite specs, but that means almost nothing when trying to plan out an actual home theater or multi room sound system. Try a specialty retailer if you really want the good stuff and the expertise to go with it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Momotaro
They actually do not have many of the same quality TVs. Yes they sell a lot of the same brands, along with many off brands, but not the same level of quality. You are getting for the most part the base model of the TV when comparing to a HH Gregg, BB, BIC Camera, Etc...I have compared the TVs, I look at all specs and what they are capable of.
For the every day consumer who does not care for the extra hdmi ports, 1080p vs 740p, weight, refresh rate (mostly for pc monitors), power useage, etc... then WalMart is ok if they want to support WalMart.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RedRage
Companies like Best Buy, OfficeMax, Staples, etc deserve to go under for one simple reason: too focused on selling bull$hit to the customer instead of focusing on helping the customer find and meet their needs.
I've worked in retail for OfficeMax and being forced to lie to customers in order to sell them a $149.99 computer repair package which essentially does nothing is NOT good business sense. Also, Best Buy, for example, has very poor customer service and the majority of the times I have been there, all I see are a bunch of employees milling around talking to each other rather than helping customers.
Show me on paper where you are forced to lie. It doesn't exist, and no sensible retailer would promote lying, let alone require it.
Posts like yours do nothing for the industry or the consumer. You do realize that your post could land you in a civil suit for libel, right?
Home theater is more audio than video, and as I said Walmart sells nothing for audio. Nothing.
As for the rest, see below. You've been fed the koolaid about one tiny little part of a TV making all the difference, just like people who believe that because the LCD panel comes out of the same factory for a "dsfiluhglsiduh" brand as it does for a Samsung, then the TVs are all the same. It doesn't. It's all the parts, features and performance not found on lower end models that makes the difference. Also, as I already pointed out, Walmart may sell the better brands, but the lower end models of those brands, along with a lot of junk. The model numbers are not adjusted, but WM does have a couple models that only they sell. This is easily verified as I've done dozens of times when confronted with a price driven buyer.
If you're recommending BB as a place to go for info, I think you need to broaden your horizons. They can recite specs, but that means almost nothing when trying to plan out an actual home theater or multi room sound system. Try a specialty retailer if you really want the good stuff and the expertise to go with it.
Grow up.
Im speaking about average consumers. Most don't have a 7.1/6.1 channel home audio system. I agree walmart sells nothing GOOD in the way of Home Audio except HTIB's which IMO are garbage. Though, most non enthusiasts are perfectly happy with a HTIB, if they even have one. The TV's sold at Walmart are good enough for 90% of consumers. Best Buy cannot survive on the 10% of enthusiasts. As for recommending the uneducated users to go to a "specialty" store. Yea right... Again, most people don't care. The only thing the associate really needs to explain is display type, refresh rate, resolution, contrast, and interlaced vs progressive. I would hope most best buy employees know that basic info.
Home theater is more audio than video, and as I said Walmart sells nothing for audio. Nothing.
As for the rest, see below. You've been fed the koolaid about one tiny little part of a TV making all the difference, just like people who believe that because the LCD panel comes out of the same factory for a "dsfiluhglsiduh" brand as it does for a Samsung, then the TVs are all the same. It doesn't. It's all the parts, features and performance not found on lower end models that makes the difference. Also, as I already pointed out, Walmart may sell the better brands, but the lower end models of those brands, along with a lot of junk. The model numbers are not adjusted, but WM does have a couple models that only they sell. This is easily verified as I've done dozens of times when confronted with a price driven buyer.
If you're recommending BB as a place to go for info, I think you need to broaden your horizons. They can recite specs, but that means almost nothing when trying to plan out an actual home theater or multi room sound system. Try a specialty retailer if you really want the good stuff and the expertise to go with it.
Show me on paper where you are forced to lie. It doesn't exist, and no sensible retailer would promote lying, let alone require it.
Posts like yours do nothing for the industry or the consumer. You do realize that your post could land you in a civil suit for libel, right?
Grow up.
I can't on paper but being told to lie is coming from management and hinted at by the upper food chain. Libel, give me a fuking break! Sue my a$$!
Customers are getting smarter about extended warranties and the fine print and I'm glad they're not falling for the bull$hit that associates feed them.
Im speaking about average consumers. Most don't have a 7.1/6.1 channel home audio system. I agree walmart sells nothing GOOD in the way of Home Audio except HTIB's which IMO are garbage. Though, most non enthusiasts are perfectly happy with a HTIB, if they even have one. The TV's sold at Walmart are good enough for 90% of consumers. Best Buy cannot survive on the 10% of enthusiasts. As for recommending the uneducated users to go to a "specialty" store. Yea right... Again, most people don't care. The only thing the associate really needs to explain is display type, refresh rate, resolution, contrast, and interlaced vs progressive. I would hope most best buy employees know that basic info.
Saying that most non enthusiasts are happy with an HTIB is like saying most drivers are fine with a Kia Rio. I worked with literally thousands of people who wanted gear at least as good as what BB offers, and often much better, and 95% of them aren't enthusiasts. The cheapest low end products are not what most people are looking for, in any genre. I'm not a kitchen enthusiast but all of my appliances and tools are at least midline products if not higher. I recognize the value in buying better things, and can afford (some of) it. I'm not a fashion icon by any means, but I know that better clothes will last longer and look better than cheap stuff.
In any event, if people aren't buying any of this stuff, they're not consumers, and aren't part of any group I've referred to.
Do you think everyone that drives a performance automobile is a weekend racer? No. They just have an appreciation for better quality vehicles.
Few enthusiasts are shopping at BB, and I'm not talking about high-end buyers. When I was offered a job there several years ago, I asked a lot of my clients why they would or would not shop there. Most said they couldn't come up with a reason to go there for A/V gear. During the several hours I spent in a couple stores to see how what went on, I knew there was no way I could work there. There's no excitement or fun happening. It's a drudgery. There is nothing enthusiastic about it. Regurgitating specs and other info that's on millions of websites is nearly useless. Few people actually care about that stuff, but they don't know what else to ask.
I occasionally pick up something for next to nothing and fix it. My parents Samsung TV died and they went out and purchased a new one. i took there 42 flat screen TV, spend $4 in parts, and it's good as new. Been searching Craigslist for other Samsung flat screens that have the same issue.
Many flat screen TV's have a life span of 2 years or less especially the low - mid range ones from Wal Mart or Target.
I see no way a brick and mortar with overhead costs can compete with an online business. If they want to reinvite themselves it will be online. you can walk into any best buy, look at what you want to buy and order it off the internet for 30% the ticket price or less.
With fuel prices so high for so long brick-n-mortor overhead will begin to be inline with overall shipping costs. Also, if you realise that Wal-Mart is the master of low prices. Then ask why they aren't moving to only online sales you'll begin to realise that internet sales, although a great way to shop, aren't going to support higher class and higher income individuals.
I like Best Buy. I just bought my new computer there. I like the convenience that I can take it home today if I need it. I like to see what I'm buying to minimize surprises. I hope they make it. They could save some money by cutting the number of people on the floor. Most of the time I go, they have sales clerks standing around looking for someone to wait on. Yes, some of their items are high, but you pay for convenience sometimes.
Retail stores generally have a limited life. Look at woolworths, Montgomery Wards, Gibsons... All where once giants and now they no longer exist.
JC Penny's, Kmart and Sears, Best Buy who were recent onetime giants are on the downhill. Kmart and sears will be gone within 5 years. JC Pennys and Bestbuy will be out of business in 10 years.
Walmart will be starting on it downhill slide but it will hold on for a while.
I don't believe this. A lot of Walmarts now sell food, now tell me are you honestly going to shop for peanut butter online and wait 3 days for your order to come in, or you going to go out to Walmart to buy it? The same it true for clothing, people like to touch, feel and try on clothing. Now what I can see happening is stores having no stock of clothing. You go to the store, you see what you like, touch it, feel it, try it on, then place a order through the store to have your order shipped to you house. The store just needs enough stock on hand to cover all the possible sizes the clothes come in. That saves a lot of store and stock space.
While some items may be exclusively sold online, like electronics, a lot of items are too bulky to ship, or the profit margin is too thin. Brick and mortar is here to stay, in one form or another. So long as they can adapt to the changing marketplace.
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