Best Buy’s Focus on Corporate Sales Sends Powerful Signal
.png)
For the first time, a national retailer has demonstrated a clear commitment to and understanding of the IRR (Incentive, Rewards, and Recognition) market. This is both an opportunity and a danger to traditional IRR players.By Bruce Bolger
Will this always be the $176 billion business no one has ever heard of? Not if major retailers such as Best Buy actively promote the market.
Because so few leading brands demonstrate any commitment to the IRR (Incentive, Rewards, and Recognition) market, it’s big news when a company like Best Buy with potentially over 100 million customers adds a page to its web site not only promoting its gift and incentive services but demonstrating a clear understanding of the marketplace with a full suite of fulfillment services.
Only 1-800 FLOWERS, Crutchfield, Omaha and Kansas City Steaks and a few other online food-gift retailers demonstrate a comparable commitment to the business demonstrated on Best Buy’s corporate web page describing the service beyond the sale of online gift cards.
When one considers that there are only a few dozen master fulfillment companies in the US, of which almost no one has ever heard of, retailers have an opportunity to have a significant impact on market awareness if more enter the market to this extent.
Here is how Best Buy tells its corporate story on its web site, which is as well as any of the best-in-class master fulfillment companies. These excerpts are published word for word.
Inspire your people and reward your customers. Best Buy Business leverages the power of Best Buy to provide the hottest tech gifts from the best brands. Our expert account managers have deep knowledge of the corporate gifting, promotions, and incentives industries, and they will help design solutions that engage and delight your employees and customers.
Benefits of Best Buy Business Incentives.
- Work with a dedicated account manager.
- Choose from thousands of technology products from the best brands.
- Our marketing expertise helps us create customized promotions that get results.
- Our eProcurement solutions can streamline your loyalty and incentive catalog programs.
- We offer simplified redemption solutions and can create your own branded, curated sites.
- Our supply chain capabilities deliver seamless logistics and fulfillment across the country.
Here’s how we can help with your incentive programs. You’ll work with a professional who exclusively supports corporate gifting, incentive, and promotional programs and who will be a strategic partner dedicated to your account. Your account manager will have a deep and nuanced understanding of purchasing behaviors, as well as the marketing expertise to create events that will help you reach your goals, whether that’s driving employee engagement or increasing sales.
All the hottest tech gifts when and where you need them. Using the power of Best Buy’s product assortment, we offer great prices on thousands of the latest consumer products from tech brands your employees and customers will love. Besides having a deep inventory of products, we’ll work with you on inventory planning to ensure you get the right amount of product at the right time.
We offer multiple connection technologies to support merchandise catalogs, including cXML, EDI and API. To support your order volume and end-user experiences, we also offer post-order reporting and support for you and your customer service and operations teams.
Does your company host corporate gifting, loyalty, and incentive programs? We offer multiple B2B and B2B2C automated solutions to help simplify your redemption and procurement process. Our team will work directly with you to understand your merchandise catalog needs and find the right purchasing or integration solution to minimize manual interventions and create amazing end-user experiences.
Simple redemption solutions. Looking for help with corporate gifting, promotions, or incentives? We offer streamlined redemption solutions and the technology to run your promotions, including dedicated fulfillment sites. Our team can create branded, curated sites for your employees and customers so they can easily select their products. They’ll also be able to choose convenient delivery options, including local store pickup and ship to home.
Customized gifts and promotions that make your brand shine. Personalize your tech gifts and add your company logo using UV color printing, engraving or custom wrapping. Extend your brand experience with customized printing on boxes, gift-wrapping and other packaging. We can also personalize many products with digital content, including your logo, videos, music, photos and apps.
Seamless logistics, fulfillment, and support. We make nationwide logistics and fulfillment fast and easy with convenient delivery from nearly 1,000 stores, including local store pickup and direct drop shipping. We can also consolidate shipments and offer you direct bulk shipping. You will not incur any additional fees for handling and storage, minimum quantities or additional commitments associated with drop shipments.
Geek Squad® City Business Services. Our world-class logistics capabilities enable smooth delivery of products and a great unboxing experience. At Geek Squad City, our custom kitting solutions allow you to include special instructions, personalized messages, marketing collateral and customized packaging that highlights your brand. We can also hold fully kitted packages in inventory so they are ready for quick deployment whenever you need them.
Get net payment terms for your business purchases. If you're a business owner who regularly uses working capital to pay for electronics, computer tech and more, the Best Buy Business Advantage card is designed for you. It's a customizable corporate purchasing program for commercial customers that offers benefits and payment solutions for multiple buyers under a single account.
For the latest news delivered by via email, subscribe here.
Education, Certifications, and Information to Activate
Brand Media and Enterprise Engagement
A complete learning, certification, and information program and a course syllabus for educators.
Resources: The Brand Media Coalition, the only guide to the story-telling power of brands and where to source them for business, event, promotional gifting, and rewards and recognition. Enterprise Engagement Solution Provider Directory. The only directory of engagement solution providers covering all types of agencies and tactics as well as insights on how to select them.
Communities: The Enterprise Engagement Alliance and Advocate and the Brand Media Coalition free resource centers offering access to the latest research, news, and case studies; discounts, promotions, referrals, and commissions, when appropriate to third-party solution providers from participating coalition solution provider members.
Training and Certification
Enterprise Engagement Alliance Education: Certified Engagement Practitioner; Advanced Engaged Practitioner, and Certified Engagement Solution Provider learning and certification programs on how to implement Stakeholder Capitalism principles at the tactical level.
International Center for Enterprise Engagement: The only training and certification program for ISO 30414 human capital reporting and ISO 10018 quality people management certification.
The EEA offers a complimentary course syllabus for educators.
In Print:
This is the definitive implementation guide to Stakeholder Capitalism, written specifically to provide CEOs and their leadership teams a concise overview of the framework, economics, and implementation process of a CEO-led strategic and systematic approach to achieving success through people. (123 pages, $15.99)
The first and most comprehensive book on Enterprise Engagement and the new ISO 9001 and ISO 10018 quality people management standards. Includes 36 chapters detailing how to better integrate and align engagement efforts across the enterprise. (312 pages, $36.)
Online:
10-minute short course: click here for a 10-minute introduction to Enterprise Engagement and ISO standards from the Coggno.com learning platform.
Services:
• The Engagement Agency at EngagementAgency.net, offering: complete support services for employers, solution providers, and technology firms seeking to profit from formal engagement practices for themselves or their clients, including Brand and Capability audits for solution providers to make sure their products and services are up to date.
• C-Suite Advisory Service—Education of boards, investors, and C-suite executives on the economics, framework, and implementation processes of Enterprise Engagement.
• Speakers Bureau—Select the right speaker on any aspect of engagement for your next event.
• Mergers and Acquisitions. The Engagement Agency’s Mergers and Acquisition group is aware of multiple companies seeking to purchase firms in the engagement field. Contact Michael Mazer in confidence if your company is potentially for sale at 303-320-3777.
Enterprise Engagement Benchmark Tools: The Enterprise Engagement Alliance offers three tools to help organizations profit from Engagement. Click here to access the tools.
• ROI of Engagement Calculator. Use this tool to determine the potential return-on-investment of an engagement strategy.
• EE Benchmark Indicator. Confidentially benchmark your organization’s Enterprise Engagement practices against organizations and best practices.
• Compare Your Company’s Level of Engagement. Quickly compare your organization’s level of engagement to those of others based on the same criteria as the EEA’s Engaged Company Stock Index.
• Gauge Your Personal Level of Engagement. This survey, donated by Horsepower, enables individuals to gauge their own personal levels of engagement.
For more information, contact Bruce Bolger at Bolger@TheEEA.org, 914-591-7600, ext. 230.
