Ray Meets Guitar Hero
From a DQ reader and Best Buy employee who wishes to remain anonymous:The Best Buy I work at is one of the ‘customer-centric’ stores. Essentially, all the data we get from customers purchases goes into figuring out their demographic, and the store is catered to their shopping needs. There are about 6 different segments, and they are all ‘named’ after their particular demographic.
Our store is a ‘Ray’ store, the largest of the groups, and Ray is essentially a blue collar worker, is middle class, and has a wife (who makes the majority of the decisions) and several kids, and the store is built around him in just about every way. One of the important aspects about Ray is that he likes to be able to use the product, and get his children involved, and see what a product is all about before purchasing it. Value is very important to Ray--he likes to get his money’s worth.
To please Ray, we have several experience stations around the store where the customers can try out new product - one in PCs, one in Cameras, etc., but the most popular one is in the Media department. It's a setup with a large screen t.v., large speakers and a PS2. Can you guess what game we’ve got on it right now? Guitar Hero. As soon as I saw it I suggested we put it there. We have not been able to keep the game in stock since it's been on display. It takes kids about 2.5 seconds after seeing it to tell their parents they want it for Christmas. I have never seen a product take off like this. It has universal appeal, and i'ts fun. I've seen a HANDFUL of people buy a PS2 JUST to play the game.
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