Minnesota Public Radio has a fascinating article on Best Buy at a crossroads. At one point, a Best Buy worker tells the interviewer:

“Executives … focus on issues that are not crucial to Best Buy’s competitiveness or survival. For instance, he argues Best Buy has exaggerated the advantage enjoyed by online retailers that don’t collect sales taxes.

 

“‘That’s not the problem,’ he said. ‘That’s not why Amazon is stealing share from us. It’s not because of the tax laws. It’s because they provide a better experience. When you shop Amazon, it’s just better.'”

We want integrated experiences.

I touched on the theme of integrated experience very briefly during my remarks at last week’s DMAW Social Summit. It’s the idea that consumers don’t care about your internal organizational chart (i.e., Dell forcing people to choose between home and small business rather than just selecting the laptop or netbook or desktop category) or your retail vs. online teams (i.e., Target saying that some items on their Web site are only available in the store or are only online). We want an integrated experience–and brand consistency at every touchpoint.

Photo by Cliff1066 (Flickr).