For this assignment I took a trip down to Best Buy in the Waterford Lakes Shopping Center. Best Buy is known for housing the latest and greatest electronic devices the world has to offer. One of the great aspects of the Best Buy “experience” is the ability to try out all these new gadgets and gizmos. When it comes to POP displays I found numerous displays which turned my ordinary shopping experience into an entertaining excursion. Though I did note a few missed opportunities in Which more POP displays could have possibly increased sales.

By far the most prominent POP display in Best Buy is the Car Audio display. On this wall are various speakers, CD players, amplifiers, and video monitors. The cool thing about this panel is your ability to select different equipment, by pressing a red button by each device, and test out it’s features. As a potential buyer if this display were non-existent I would have an extremely hard time delineating the quality between different speaker brands for instance. Not to mention the fact that features like this empower the consumer. They give the customer a sense control and also separate, but not alienate, themselves from the sales representatives. Another Prominent POP display is the gaming section. This area has around 9 gaming stations with each station supporting a different gaming console. These stations would be featuring the news releases from each respective console. Also, these new releases would be placed directly under the gaming station. If the customer liked that game they were testing they could buy it.

One thing that bothered me about Best Buy is there Music section. This area takes up around ¼ of Best Buy’s entire floor. I consider myself a music buff and I enjoy listening to new releases. Unlike most music stores Best Buy doesn’t have any listening stations were a person like myself could sample new CD’s. It doesn’t seem like it would take many resources to implement this idea. IN this instance Best Buy’s slogan, “Thousands of Possibilities, Get Yours”, dos not apply.
Often times a customer can feel pressured by salesmen when they are shopping. From what I experienced the Best Buy staff seems to be both friendly and informative. I do not consider myself a compulsory shopper and when I walk into a store such as this, 95% percent of the time I know what I’m looking for right away. But, stores such as Best Buy benefit greatly from these compulsory shoppers. It seems that these POP displays target compulsory shoppers more than others. The interactive displays hook you in and make you feel comfortable and in control.

Overall my Best Buy experience was great. I got to mess around with a lot of toys which I wanted to but couldn’t take home (62” plasma screen TV). POP displays were prevalent throughout the store and added a welcoming level of interactivity to the store. I am still a little disappointed at the lack of CD listening stations at Best Buy, but I’ll get over it.