What Exactly Does Going Digital Mean?

Going digital is not about Social media or Omni channels. Is it about asking simple questions.

Best Buy is one of the largest electronic good retailers in USA. Few years ago Best Buy was threatened by what is now known as Showrooming effect. Basically customers would walk into its showrooms get benefitted by the advice of the salesperson, decide on the model and then go online to buy the product on Amazon because of low prices. Despite having one the best footfalls in the decade Best Buy recorded reduced profits. Although it did try to Price match Amazon they knew it was not a long-term solution because of its cost structure (Physical showrooms, salespeople etc). They couldn’t block the customers from checking price of product on Amazon. Future looked uncertain, everyone thought game over for Best Buy which was the case with many other retailing giants. No amount of investing new technology would have helped Best Buy .

Best Buy relearned how to make profits. Best Buy proposed to the manufacturers that they compensate Best Buy for exclusive showcasing of manufacturers new products. Manufacturers also could  launch specific brand kiosks within Best Buy showroom for a fee. This new model which had zero investment for Best Buy dramatically increased its profitability.

Is this a ground breaking innovation? Of course NO. This has already been  practiced in other industries but for the first time tried in Electronic good Retail. Best Buy realized apart from consumers it created lot of value for manufacturers therefore it captured the value lost from consumers from manufacturers.

What is my business? What is my business ecosystem? How do I currently make money? How changing one thing impacts my ecosystem? What are the options available?