Best Buy Europe chief marketing officer Jeff Severts admits his lack of satisfaction with the retail chain's UK launch in an interview with Marketing Week. In his own words: “I’m not satisfied that enough people in the UK know about Best Buy or understand it with the intimacy I’d like."
Alongside the chain's failing to make its desired impact on the UK market (despite launching 6 stores in 2010), the last 6 months see the exit of a number of senior Best Buy executives-- including European CEO Scott Wheway, branded operations chief Paul Antoniadis and head of online DeVere Forster.
Analysts expect Best Buy UK to post losses of £45m this year-- fuelling speculation of the chain's take on the European market falling flat.
Severts however insists business remains on course, with plans to open 80 more UK stores remaining the same (only on a now unknown timescale).
Commentors also suggest declining W. European PC sales make part of the chain's launch disappointment-- where Gartner says consumer spending is shifting from PCs towards tablet devices, alongside adopting a wait-and-see approach (where customers prefer to wait for Q1 2011's new products and cheaper tablets).
