Thoughts

요즘 유통업이 전반적으로 힘들다.
전체 소비 위축도 위축이지만
사람들의 소비 비중이 인터넷/모바일 채널로 급격하게 쏠리면서
오프라인 채널이 어려워지고 있고
온라인은 온라인대로 수익이 나지않아 어려움을 겪는…결국 승자는 아무도 없는 상태.

그런데 오프라인 유통업자인 미국의 베스트바이가
아마존을 상대로 그 불가능에 가까웠던 turn-around를 해낸 것을 보니
정말 놀랍고 이런 CEO가 대단하다 싶다.

요약하면,
1. 베스트바이에서 구경하고 Amazon에서 사는 행위를 방지: 가격을 경쟁사에 맞추고 웹사이트와 모바일 앱 개선
2. 매장을 e-commerce 개선에 이용: 물류센터 뿐만 아니라 매장 내 재고까지 실재고 현황에 반영하여 매장 내 pick 및 매장에서 바로 배송하도록 개선 (미국 인구 70%가 15분내에 도달할 수 있는 BB매장에서 픽업할 수 있도록) -> 아마존 대비 배송시간 단축
3. 매장을 전자업체의 브랜드샵으로 이용하도록 하고 fee를 받음 (하이마트처럼)
4. 프리미엄 주방가전 도입

나도 이번에 미국여행하면서 베스트바이를 통해
온라인 주문 + 근처 베스트바이 매장에서 (수시간 내) pick-up 서비스를 해봤는데
이러한 서비스는 아직은 아마존이 할 수 없기에 가치있다 느꼈었다.

How to Fight Amazon.com, Best Buy-Style

http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-fight-amazon-com-best-buy-style-1479660007

Best Buy has accomplished what many on Wall Street once considered impossible: It successfully fought off an attack from Amazon.com.

The electronics retailer’s operating margins have rebounded and same-store sales are up. That is a dramatic improvement from January 2013, when Best Buy’s shares were trading at roughly one-quarter of their current value as fears of “showrooming”—shoppers’ practice of researching products in bricks-and-mortar stores and then buying them from online competitors—swirled around the company.

Against all odds, Chief Executive Hubert Joly, who joined in September 2012, managed to turn Best Buy around. As Amazon moves more deeply into new areas such as apparel and food, fellow retailers would be well served to note its example.

The first step was aimed at preventing showroomers from buying elsewhere. The company committed to matching competitors’ prices and brought its prices in line with Amazon’s. At the same time, Best Buy improved its website and mobile app.

Best Buy also began to use its stores to improve its e-commerce operations. Prior to Mr. Joly’s arrival, if a product wasn’t in one of the company’s six warehouses, it would be listed as out of stock, even if the item was in stores. Now Best Buy’s stores do double duty as e-commerce warehouses. Best Buy says half of online orders are now picked up in store or shipped from a store, and 70% of Americans live within 15 minutes of a store. That has helped Best Buy speed up shipping times so that most online purchases arrive in two days, matching Amazon Prime’s speeds without the annual fee.

Indeed, Best Buy didn’t just become more like Amazon. It also focused on the area where it could set itself apart from the e-commerce giant: its stores. The retailer knew its suppliers wanted it to thrive, particularly as a showroom for their higher-end products. The company asked vendors, including Samsung, LG, Sony, Microsoft, AT&T and Verizon Communications to set up their own branded shops. The suppliers footed the bill for most of this, and many began paying for specially trained staffers to work in them.

Best Buy also improved training for its other workers and added high-end kitchen and bath offerings from Pacific Kitchen & Home and high-end home theater equipment from Magnolia. Best Buy got more than 88% of its $36.3 billion in U.S. sales in its stores in the fiscal year ended January.

The company hasn’t closed many stores under Mr. Joly, despite significant growth in online sales. That could make it vulnerable to the woes of other retailers, which have become weighed down by bricks and mortar. But that would be tricky since they have become integral to its e-commerce strategy.

The next time a retailer looks poised to cave to Amazon, it should heed the story of how Best Buy came back from the (presumed) dead.