Well, this is no way to gain the trust of a customer. In fact, if you’re looking for a way to actively erode the trust of your buying base, you could do worse than to follow Best Buy’s example here.
Consumerist, the consumer advocacy site, recently published this story reported by a reader named Donald:
Best Buy has been doing something sort of tricky lately on their laptop pricing. Each week, advertised prices on a number of laptops are higher than regular pricing.
In this week’s ad, there is a Dell, sku 9693191, for $649.99. Regular price is $629.99. An HP, sku 9705373, is advertised for $699.99; regular price is $649.99. Last week, a Toshiba, sku 9705221, was advertised for $499.99, this week it’s back to regular price, $479.99. Likewise, a Dell, sku 9693191, was advertised for $649.99 last week, and this week it’s back to its regular price of $629.99.
This is certainly legal, because nowhere is the word sale used. The ad doesn’t say that the price is reduced, and the in store signage just says As Advertised. Still, it appears that they are attempting to gouge the uninformed.
Yikes.
Now this is obviously a terrible business practice. There is just no way that the extra $20 or even $50 can come close to making up for the negative publicity which was bound to strike when this practice was revealed. And even if Best Buy hasn’t yet noticed, we’re living in the golden age of consumer knowledge. Things like price differences are supremely easy to track. Just about every purchase I make–whether online or in real life–is preceded by a quick rundown of reviews on Amazon. Even the existence of a site like Consumerist is a huge change from even the landscape of consumer knowledge from a decade ago. In short, if ever there was a time to avoid cheating your customers, we’re living through it.
This new reality of consumer education has far-reaching implications beyond obviously misguided cases like Best Buy’s misleading advertising. You need to really earn your customer loyalty because they are more educated than ever. Formerly important competitive advantages such as location no longer matter in the way they once did. Businesses succeed in this climate because they are good. There’s no such thing as tricking your customer, and, even if there is, this is a fleeting method of success. Succeed by being good.
How knowledgeable are your consumers? Have customers noticed–and said something–if they’ve found your company cutting corners or not providing the very best service?
UPDATE: According to Engadget:
Best Buy is bundling 6 months of its Ask an Agent and Virus and Spyware Protection packages into the offers. Each would normally cost you an extra $20 ($40 in total) which Best Buy is now giving away for “free” with the inflated price tag.
Of course, there’s no way to know if this was what was initially intended or if this is a way for Best Buy to save face. I stand by the questions and larger points of the post, even if what Best Buy was doing was not quite as bad as it initially looked.
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