There was a time when best buy´s existence was threatened. Many saw the sales and profit of the business tank and their CEO resigned.
In fact, best buy´s customers would go to the store, look at the things they wanted and then they´d order it online from its competitors to get it at a cheaper price. Those were dark times for the company.
Fortunately, Best Buy with the help of their CEO Hubert Joly not only survived that dark period, they continue to thrive and grow. Today, they continue to enjoy the benefits of being able to turn the fate of their business around.
So, what did they do right?
- Best Buy had improved overall financial transparency and control
First and foremost, it was important for best buy to understand just how bad the situation was. That can only be done if you have a good budget management software that will allow you to have a clear, unobstructed view of the financial situation of the company. Understanding deeply why the sales and profit were sliding and by how much helped them determine what they could control and improve.
- Best Buy Improved their website and mobile App
Best Buy understood that they were losing to competitors online so one of their first strategies was to improve their customer´s experience online through their website and their mobile app.
- They offered price matching guarantees to not lose to competitors
Most of their customers would turn to Amazon and other online providers to get discounts so by offering price matching guarantee, they knew that they will not lose out to pricing.
- They used their existing stores as pick-up locations for online orders
Best buy has always viewed stores as a wonderful asset both in terms of branding and in terms of giving the customers firsthand experience on what its like to purchase the item they want. Given the fact many now choose to buy online, they offered the ability to order it online but pickup the item in the store so that they can get it as fast as possible without having to shell out money for shipping. They basically used their physical stores as warehouses.
- They retrained their sales workers
They knew that they needed to step up their game. Best buy understood that if that customer walks in there and does not get entertained well, that customer is never gonna walk back in that store ever again. It was important for them to retrain the sales workers and to give them the weapons they need to be able to assist well and close deals faster.
- They improved their customer service dramatically
Improving customer service is a lot harder than one might think because it pierces through how the business operates and thinks. It is therefore important to have a corporate budgeting software that will enable you to tie things together in a smart, sensible manner – finances, sales, marketing, HR, support. Improving the customer service meant they needed to understand customer behavior in a deeper level and how that behavior affected their business.
- They improved employee retention by offering generous benefits
Best Buy started expanding their leave benefits and childcare benefits to encourage their employees to stay thereby lowering recruitment and new training costs. Happier employees also meant more effective employees at work for them. To be able to do this, they had to be able to do what if analysis through a business management software whereby they can do scenarios like “what if I increase everyone´s childcare benefits by 10%, what is its impact to the company´s cashflow and ability to invest?”
- They made strategic partnerships
Best buy partnered with Amazon to sell exclusive lines of products. They also made acquisitions to help expand their business but all these cannot be done without a good grasp of their real financial situation. The ability of their business to expand and invest wisely was largely determined by how well their corporate budgeting software allowed them to respond promptly and look at the key figures accurately.
What´s next for your business?
Like Best Buy, if you want to turn your company´s fate around, you have to take calculated risks. The first step perhaps is for your business to invest in a good and capable budget software that will allow you to have complete transparency of your company´s financial health.
You have to be able to make decisions based on accurate and real-time insights that your budget planning software can afford you.
Performance Canvas Financials is a complete and cloud-based FP&A software that affords your organization a streamlined budgeting process that will empower your managers and senior decision makers to make sound and well informed decisions.
Performance Canvas Financials ensures your business will not be trapped in risky and difficult spreadsheet situations making budgeting, reporting, forecasting, and consolidation of financial figures burdensome. Learn more about this budgeting and planning software by visiting www.performancecanvas.com or email info@dspanel.com for more information.
DSPanel offers cutting edge technology platform for business analytics, planning, and visualization. DSPanel designs, builds, and operates with the end users in mind. Performance Canvas was created by DSPanel to answer the unarticulated needs of the market not addressed by previous available solutions. With Performance Canvas, information is transformed into valuable business insights for the business executives to utilize in their decision-making process. DSPanel currently has over 2500 organizations deploying their solutions.
