Southern Nevada isn’t particularly well known as an exporter, particularly for electronics.
But the Best Buy stores in the Las Vegas Valley have tested a store design and marketing concept that will now be used nationwide by the 45-year-old, Richfield, Minn.-based retailer.
The concept is to provide one centralized runway to easily access products and displays with dozens of hands-on and interactive kiosks to allow drive time on new gadgets.
The Best Buy layout is different from the configuration in many other consumer electronic stores, with a tiled center aisle designed to offer easy access to product displays in carpeted areas on both sides. Overhead signs along the sides of the store help guide shoppers, and the sightlines within the store have been laid out to make it easy for customers to spot products.
A corporate spokesman said the Las Vegas market was selected to test the concept because of the personality of local managers and employees.
“There were many factors involved in the selection process, including location of the market, need and ability of stores to undergo changes and also the local team’s willingness to embark on this pilot effort with us,” the spokesman wrote in an email. “Using these criteria, a task force comprised of district managers and other Best Buy employees across the country nominated pilot markets that they thought would be the best fit for the pilot.”
Joe Hunter, store manager of the Best Buy store on Maryland Parkway, north of Flamingo Road, said a key to the success of the concept was training every employee about every aspect of the products the store sells. The Maryland Parkway store has about 120 employees.
“Other stores have departments,” Hunter explained. “If you need a computer, you go to the computer department for help. But here, there really aren’t departments. Every employee is trained everywhere. It cuts down the wait time a customer has.”
Shorter waits, he said, were particularly noticeable during the holiday season when stores are jammed with shoppers seeking consumer electronics gifts.
While all employees are versed in all products, some specialists still remain in some areas.
The hands-on demonstrations and the look of the new layout, which some have described as futuristic, has particular appeal to some female shoppers who may be intimidated by technology, Hunter said.
The concept was first rolled out in all six Southern Nevada stores and operations in Pittsburgh. Corporate leaders eyed sales and customer service trends and determined that the concept was something they wanted to replicate in Best Buy stores across the United States.
When top corporate executives received positive feedback on the concept, which first began here a year ago, they began replicating it in stores in Colorado, California and in the Dallas market.
Hunter said the timeline for a full national rollout was uncertain, but the company continued the transition in 2011 and was planning to add more stores next year.