Best Buy: The Modern Day Mancave

So I got out of my Business Perspectives Class tonight and found myself dumbfounded. Two groups were assigned to make presentations addressing the lack of female customers in Best Buy, and what the company could do about it. There were a couple of good suggestions, such as adding a Internet cafe/coffeehouse corner to the store, and implementing some sort of computer tutorial classes in the same fashion as Apple does with the Genius Bar at their Apple Stores. However, some of the suggestions I heard were lacking. Some even made my blood boil a little. Basically, there were quite a few suggestions that turned Best Buy into NOT Best Buy.

Let's get this out of the way now before I receive a cavalcade of hate mail and a letter from Hillary Clinton; I am not a male chauvinist. However, I DO protect men where it matters, and I do strongly believe in the Bros Before Hoes Law (Check your Man Law Constitution, 2010 Edition, Article 22, Section a).

Here's the thing: when women drag their husbands, boyfriends, sons, and other significant males to the department stores, notice that these men don't exactly jump for joy when entering these stores. They know what's in store; a marathon-like afternoon where they get asked a bunch of menial questions concerning shoes, drapes, outfits, and other merchandise. They'll choose an item or make some other judgement by either mentally flipping a coin or by going all Newlywed Game on her and try to guess what she's thinking. As men in an uninteresting environment, we don't care, and all women sense that. She'll eventually go with her gut feeling, disregarding anything we may say, which, in the end, makes us useless shopping companions. That car space would have been put to better use with one of her girlfriends, and not us.

Best Buy, on the other end, is the ONE place where men can turn the tables. There's no other store in the country where such a sample of men can be found. Just as you'll only find professional men in suit stores, bikers at the Harley Davidson store, and stoners at the skate shop, Best Buy attracts all those men and more. Men of every age bracket, race, social status, marital status, and income level can be found at Best Buy. It is, as I like to refer to it, as the Public Mancave. This is the only place where you'll find men of all backgrounds HAPPILY shopping. Make changes to that, and you'll lose part of that loyal customer base.

The question we must ask first is this: Can Best Buy attract enough LOYAL female shoppers to offset the loyal male shoppers that they would lose with major changes to the store? The answer is no; Best Buy is the only public getaway for men of all ages. It's the one place where I knew my mother or girlfriend wouldn't follow me to, and I'd have free reign over my time and money.

There's still a bigger reason why Best Buy would be making a huge mistake in investing time and money into an attempt at balancing the gender ratio in their stores. Why? Because the change is slowly but surely happening already.

Over the past 10 years, there has been an organic shift in the way women view technology. More women are embracing technology than ever before; some even going as far as really digging into the specs the same way other women stare at the same pair of shoes for hours on end. Because of this change, more women are now apt to go to a place that's not only seen as an authority on technology, but also carries a large array of items. That eliminates the tech departments at Sears, Wal Mart, and Target.

If Best Buy really wants to dump money into balancing the gender ratio right now, the best way for them to do it is by renting out mall space; not necessarily renting something as big as an anchor space like Sears or Macy's, but a storefront about as big as a Gap or an Express. A few years back, Apple started opening Apple Stores in malls, and as far as I know, the change has been quite successful, especially in areas where a standalone Apple Store is not accessible. If Best Buy created a store where they only sold an array of smaller consumer electronics (phones, mp3 players, cameras), laptops, CDs, and DVDs, and video games, that could go a long way. Today's female techie won't necessarily buy a car stereo, but she will buy Season 1 of Glee on DVD and its accompanying soundtracks. Today's female techie won't spend $900 on a new TV, but she will go out right away and drop $175 on a new camera because she lost or broke her old one.



A promotional shot from a 2008 Best Buy Female Gamer Day.



I know there are female techies out there who WILL buy a quality car stereo, a $3000 TV and surround sound speakers to boot, but the majority of that EXTREMELY small population are already loyal Best Buy customers. They need to go after the ones aged 14-25, who don't have a lot of money but are willing to spend it on things that Best Buy already sells. Hit them where they hang out (the mall), and you'll blow the remnants of any remaining Sam Goody or FYE to oblivion.

For the time being, though, let us men keep our mancave. It's the last place we can drag women to make them feel as bored, useless, and infuriated as we do when we walk into a Macy's.