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Best Buy CEO: Low prices are 'table stakes' for retailers

October 25, 2009

Customers care about low prices, but they want a lot more from their retailers than just the best deal.

That's the assertion of Brian Dunn, CEO of Best Buy, in a guest blog post for CNBC. Dunn says that having the lowest price is just a starting point, and represents "table stakes" for companies such as his. Just as important, he says, are "a knowledgeable staff, quality and choice."

Here again - perhaps counter-intuitively for some - a knowledgeable staff is a tremendous asset. Let me explain what I mean. Customers want to be able to compare prices, but it can be very difficult to do that with confidence when you're shopping for consumer electronics. Product displays might list SKU and model numbers and "speeds and feeds," but unless you're really comfortable with the "language" of technology, it's hard to know for certain that you're comparing apples-to-apples, without help.

On top of that, some of the most compelling products and services are not the off-the-shelf variety. A good example is the "smart phone" that is becoming the primary, or only, computing device for more and more people. Very simply, people need help to find the right phone, get it set up correctly and get the most out of it. And it's not just phones. In every category, we've just begun to scratch the surface of what technology can do for people, but with every new development comes a new layer of complexity.