Retailers Brining SalesPeople Online

Traditional Brick and Mortar retailers have begun to recognize the opportunity to extend the value of their trained consumer facing sales people into the online space, leveraging their expertise, and their branded recognition, to offer valuable information and service to shoppers. One case in point is Best Buy who has launched www.askablueshirt.com to allow consumer electronic shoppers to take advantage of the expertise of the trained Best Buy sales force to build shopping preference and drive instore traffic.

Additionally, they are using the distribution power of this environment to generate buzz around events like Black Friday, in this case, showing photos of people camping out prior to the big holiday sales event. It shows that Best Buy, and other leading retainers, are starting to experiment with online well beyond their e-commerce and general brand building activities online.