Sales Floor Let's meet in the Middle; an Electronics/Tech thread

[techGuy777]

This stray

 

[Llamanatee]

This stray
View attachment 8066

Germs galore.

 

[restroomFollowUp]

I made a thread in I'm Lost, but maybe it's better here. I was an electronics TM last year, and just started as an electronics TM at a different store. My weak point for selling is definately TVs, which I know little about (don't own one or need one), and which my old store didn't move that much outside of holiday sales. What does an electronics TM need to know about TVs?

A lot of guests go off of the displays and see what’s the best bang for the buck. I would only take the workbench training with a grain of salt because they neglect to tell you things and also lie about products to force you into overselling. To anyone selling 4K TVs there is NO such thing as a 4K HDMI cable, the workbench thing said we have to sell those to guests but really all HDMI cables are created equally. The reason I say this is because if you try to push that onto a guest that knows a thing or two about that you’ll certainly lose all credibility and likely the sale. The most important factor is the size, refresh rate, and smart tv capability. That is all covered in workbench. Another thing that is good to know is that surround sound is super easy to setup with all of our stock supporting HDMI ARC, a lot of guests don’t buy sound bars, at my store at least, because they think it’ll be really complicated. If that’s a path they want to take just let them know that it is really easy to setup. Another thing I do is check online websites to see if any of our TV’s are trending online, the TCL 4K Roku TV was amazons top pick for like 2 years running so when people ask me what’s the best value I know that the TCL isn’t hot garbage. Overall it’s not that bad to sell them, just don’t lose a sale because of basket builders, it’s not worth it.

 

[restroomFollowUp]

To be serious, does anything have a serious problem with the New TCLs staying on the HDMI you set them? 2 keep migrating

My store doesn’t have the TCL’s on the normal demo real, they have their own videos produced by TCL that play so HDMI migration isn’t an issue, I would maybe take the tv out of store mode and just switch the input to the one with the demo

 

[restroomFollowUp]

My store has a lot of old merchandise in the electronics stock room that takes up a lot of space, so much in fact that our games for the switch are all the way at the end of the closet. Is this a problem at other stores, like having iPad 2’s and old Xbox 360/ PS3 games? I’ve run the idea of putting the stuff on the clearance shelf at a huge discount so that we could at least get something for all of the old stuff but it never gained any traction. For any stores that have solved this problem, do you salvage the stuff? Do you just shove it out as clearance? It just seems like at some point something needs to be done about it.

 

[Llamanatee]

My store has a lot of old merchandise in the electronics stock room that takes up a lot of space, so much in fact that our games for the switch are all the way at the end of the closet. Is this a problem at other stores, like having iPad 2’s and old Xbox 360/ PS3 games? I’ve run the idea of putting the stuff on the clearance shelf at a huge discount so that we could at least get something for all of the old stuff but it never gained any traction. For any stores that have solved this problem, do you salvage the stuff? Do you just shove it out as clearance? It just seems like at some point something needs to be done about it.

I think we sold through all our iPad 2s or I do know that a few years ago Target actually marked some of the ipads clearance and we got rid of them then. No old system games. I would “as is” them and put them on the electronics clearance endcap to get rid of them. Well, I don’t know how much they would sell now. Maybe defect them out to get rid of them.

 

[Mikuhl]

Samsung: Luxury
Vizio: Built in Chromecast without a roundabout way (like LG), even smaller TV's have 4k still.
TCL: Roku built in, speakers are not the best to cut costs, pair with soundbar.
LG: Really bad, they turn blue after a few months, Chromecast is really roundabout ("ask LG to...")
Element: They also make TV's under the name Westinghouse, which are black Friday TV's
Hisense & Philips: Who?

 

[Llamanatee]

Samsung: Luxury
Vizio: Built in Chromecast without a roundabout way (like LG), even smaller TV's have 4k still.
TCL: Roku built in, speakers are not the best to cut costs, pair with soundbar.
LG: Really bad, they turn blue after a few months, Chromecast is really roundabout ("ask LG to...")
Element: They also make TV's under the name Westinghouse, which are black Friday TV's
Hisense & Philips: Who?

We use to carry Westinghouse long before Element and they actually use to be decent TVs, then a few years ago they became Black Friday Tvs and we got heavy returns on them.

 

[can't touch this]

Fighting through crowds to score a TV that will turn into a smoke bomb in 3 months seems excessive even by masochist standards

 

[daemon]

A lot of guests go off of the displays and see what’s the best bang for the buck. I would only take the workbench training with a grain of salt because they neglect to tell you things and also lie about products to force you into overselling. To anyone selling 4K TVs there is NO such thing as a 4K HDMI cable

That is a negative, ghostrider. HDMI cables have rated bandwidth capabilitie depending on quality and shielding factors. A minimum data rate needs to be maintained depending on which video and HDR modes you plan to use.

A good 1080p cable can usually do 4k 30fps just fine, but a sucky cable can still do one and not the other.

Start asking for HDR and 60fps for your video games and you will be wanting an 18gbps HDMI cable.

8k is going to be rough but we won't see content for it for another decade.

 

[daemon]

View attachment 8057
Depiction of your traditional Electronics team member 😂

No lie, spitting image of a part timer who eventually left.

 

[starmaster1000]

A few years before I became a Team Member, my first black Friday shopping experience was at Target in a small city and people were pretty civilized. Idk if it was just the culture there or the 20+ cops stationed every 50 feet in the store, but it was good overall.

Bought an Element TV. Still running very well to this day without issue.

 

[restroomFollowUp]

That is a negative, ghostrider. HDMI cables have rated bandwidth capabilitie depending on quality and shielding factors. A minimum data rate needs to be maintained depending on which video and HDR modes you plan to use.

A good 1080p cable can usually do 4k 30fps just fine, but a sucky cable can still do one and not the other.

Start asking for HDR and 60fps for your video games and you will be wanting an 18gbps HDMI cable.

8k is going to be rough but we won't see content for it for another decade.

I have been using an off the shelf 5 dollar hdmi cable from amazon and I am successfully getting 4K HDR 60fps from my Xbox one X, my PC also is doing the same to the monitor with an HDMI cable that came with an old TV from 2009. I’m sure there are situations where a special cable is needed but I’ve yet to encounter one. Linus Tech Tips, a credible tech YouTube channel, has also done tests with 1000 dollar HDMI cables and found a tiny difference. Now cables can be used to carry more than just video and in that case I’d recommend a nicer one but for the average guest the cable included with their television or 4K hardware will be more than good enough for their needs.

Here’s a CNET article on the matter

4K HDMI cables (are nonsense)

You do not need a new HDMI cable for Ultra HD 4K (probably).

www.google.com

 

[restroomFollowUp]

I think we sold through all our iPad 2s or I do know that a few years ago Target actually marked some of the ipads clearance and we got rid of them then. No old system games. I would “as is” them and put them on the electronics clearance endcap to get rid of them. Well, I don’t know how much they would sell now. Maybe defect them out to get rid of them.

Yeah that’s what I was thinking, I don’t think our 13 copies of black ops 3 for the 360 are doing target any good by sitting in the closet gathering dust.

 

[tholmes]

Yeah that’s what I was thinking, I don’t think our 13 copies of black ops 3 for the 360 are doing target any good by sitting in the closet gathering dust.

I agree this is probably a good idea, but I'd modify the idea a bit: instead of putting them straight to "as is" try merchandising an endcap of d-code games and electronics. Make it look good and as much like it's supposed to be there as possible (at my store we even got the proper "value video games" header for it). Then, if it doesn't sell for a month or two (keep track of this by checking periodically when you tied each item to the endcap) go ahead and mark it down.

This is what I'm currently doing with pretty much any d-code I have in my stockroom. We haven't sold these Airport Extremes in a couple years, but I merchandised it with the rest of the Apple lockbox and I've actually had people show interest in them in just a couple weeks.

 

[daemon]

I have been using an off the shelf 5 dollar hdmi cable from amazon and I am successfully getting 4K HDR 60fps from my Xbox one X, my PC also is doing the same to the monitor with an HDMI cable that came with an old TV from 2009. I’m sure there are situations where a special cable is needed but I’ve yet to encounter one. Linus Tech Tips, a credible tech YouTube channel, has also done tests with 1000 dollar HDMI cables and found a tiny difference. Now cables can be used to carry more than just video and in that case I’d recommend a nicer one but for the average guest the cable included with they’re television or 4K hardware will be more than good enough for their needs.

Here’s a CNET article on the matter

4K HDMI cables (are nonsense)

You do not need a new HDMI cable for Ultra HD 4K (probably).

www.google.com

I would check to see if your color space is not falling back. With an xbox x you want to be in 4:4:4 rgb. An inadiquate cable can leave you in 4:2:2 or 4:2:0 yuv.

I should add that 4k 60fps with HDR will most likely require falling back to 4:2:0, my ps pro also has that limitation. I believe the max speed of HDMI 2.0a is not enough for 4:4:4 color space and HDR.

 

[BoxCutter]

Hisense & Philips: Who?

Great summary @Mikuhl. Philips used to be a major brand decades ago in TVs and radios. I bought one on clearance a few years ago and it still looks great. It was one of the first smart TVs that, unfortunately, is no longer upgradable. Good thing I have my Apple TV, Roku, and Chromecast!

A good 1080p cable can usually do 4k 30fps just fine, but a sucky cable can still do one and not the other.

Actually had a guest come in saying that he used his old HDMI cable on his new TV and it didn't work. The message on the screen said he needed a 4K cable. I forget what brand and model it was. May have been an LG.

 

[daemon]

I wanted to get over to my laptop for this reply.

Samsung: Luxury
Vizio: Built in Chromecast without a roundabout way (like LG), even smaller TV's have 4k still.
TCL: Roku built in, speakers are not the best to cut costs, pair with soundbar.
LG: Really bad, they turn blue after a few months, Chromecast is really roundabout ("ask LG to...")
Element: They also make TV's under the name Westinghouse, which are black Friday TV's
Hisense & Philips: Who?

You seem to have quite a focus on chromecast support..why? chromecast sucks.

Samsung and LG are currently top display makers, but we have their low end fillings.

Samsung 6 and 7K series: Good quality but not offering any features that the other basic 4k TVs are not. Strong app store support but still only second to roku/firestick/apple.

LG : Nothing special either but the TVs we carry seem to have a high failure rate, and it seems one of the more common fails is blue tint (A logic board issue, not to be confused with LG OLED color change issues).

Vizio: Another good choice like samsung for this range, but nothing special.

TCL: Always on sale with the best value, features built in roku which trumps any other built in streaming device (Ignoring firestick TVs because they are rebadged elements which blow). We sell only the basic 4k models they offer, best buy sells the mid range p/6 series. Many have not heard of the company before, they have been a consumer electronics manufacturer since 1981 (You may have heard of the cassette manufacturer TTK) . They are currently the 3rd biggest TV seller thanks to the roku TVs price point and value. Also from the Wiki, TCL used to stand for Telephone Communication Limited but they officially changed it to The Creative Life for commercial purposes.

Philips: They just rebadge other peoples TVs now.

Polaroid: Same.

Element: First that I had heard of them being westinghouse, but both did their best at producing cheap (looks and cost) TVs. Some lasted for ever, others didnt last a year. This is your guest/patio TV.

Failure rate wise, the LG ones seem to be doing a bangup job in our returns bin, but make no mistake of it. EVERY BRAND HAS FAILURES.

 

[restroomFollowUp]

Great summary @Mikuhl. Philips used to be a major brand decades ago in TVs and radios. I bought one on clearance a few years ago and it still looks great. It was one of the first smart TVs that, unfortunately, is no longer upgradable. Good thing I have my Apple TV, Roku, and Chromecast!



Actually had a guest come in saying that he used his old HDMI cable on his new TV and it didn't work. The message on the screen said he needed a 4K cable. I forget what brand and model it was. May have been an LG.

Like the CNET article said there are 2 distinctions: standard and high speed. High speed cables are very common now and are included with almost everything, if the guest had an ancient standard speed cable that’s probably the issue. The thing I’m getting at here is there is no “4K cable” there’s just high speed ones so the 60 dollar monster cables that workbench wants us to push are no different than the 15 dollar GE cables except for the casing.

 

[restroomFollowUp]

I would check to see if your color space is not falling back. With an xbox x you want to be in 4:4:4 rgb. An inadiquate cable can leave you in 4:2:2 or 4:2:0 yuv.

I should add that 4k 60fps with HDR will most likely require falling back to 4:2:0, my ps pro also has that limitation. I believe the max speed of HDMI 2.0a is not enough for 4:4:4 color space and HDR.

I haven’t gotten much into the color space settings, I don’t much care for Sony’s settings interface on my pro, the xbone just lets you check a box and then you have hdr so I haven’t gone into the advanced settings, I do know that my LG OLED does recognize that it’s in HDR and it is 4K 60 so my cable is doing fine, as far as I know

 

[daemon]

Like the CNET article said there are 2 distinctions: standard and high speed. High speed cables are very common now

I can get a 6 foot 18gbs cable from mono price for 6 bucks... great! That is because monoprice rocks. The cables on the peg on my back wall? I wouldn't trust so much. I never press monster cables, but Philips has 18gbs tested premium cables right above it that are a little more expensive. I only press it to people getting 4k blueray players (never happens) or 4k consoles. Usually the guest just grabs it when I tell them the cable was designed with 4k in mind and the guest is getting an expensive 4k tv.

 

[restroomFollowUp]

I can get a 6 foot 18gbs cable from mono price for 6 bucks... great! That is because monoprice rocks. The cables on the peg on my back wall? I wouldn't trust so much. I never press monster cables, but Philips has 18gbs tested premium cables right above it that are a little more expensive. I only press it to people getting 4k blueray players (never happens) or 4k consoles. Usually the guest just grabs it when I tell them the cable was designed with 4k in mind and the guest is getting an expensive 4k tv.

But see what I was getting at is that 4K players and Consoles (usually) come with a cable that supports their output. Microsoft isn’t gonna sell a 500 dollar 4K powerhouse but only give you a 1080p rated HDMI cable. I think what ends up happening is the guest will end up throwing out a perfectly fine cable that came included and will have wasted money on something else. To a guest that doesn’t know the difference this is a win for target because it’s easy to make money off of advise. Like I said previously, to someone that knows better you risk losing all of your credibility for the sale and risk losing their business in the future. I am of the opinion that it’s better to not push things that the guest doesn’t need so that they feel comfortable coming back in the future. Pushing unwanted crap has been the downfall of our competition and target should not make the same mistake. This is why I think people should take to basket builders cautiously, in some instances they’re awesome, in others guests just want to be left alone because they know what they want. I think that target techs biggest problem is being taken seriously by enthusiast clientele and the only way to establish target as a brand for all types of tech shoppers is to offer bulletproof advice.

 

[can't touch this]

Speaking of TVs it seems like Vizio has stepped up their game recently. When I worked at Wally World over a decade ago they were trash and got returned every single day of every single week with black lines on the screen or distorted audio, etc. Customers would always eyeball the low prices, get mad when I recommended a different brand (as if I was getting commission and trying to upsell them), buy the Vizios anyway and then bring it back for a return a month later with a non functioning screen. Sorry Cletus, maybe you shouldn't have spent your rent money on a disposable TV for THE BIG GAME during an economic downturn

Now I own one myself. It has a surprising heft to it for a 32". The first gen Vizios had a noticeably flimsy, "creaky" build quality.

A few years before I became a Team Member, my first black Friday shopping experience was at Target in a small city and people were pretty civilized. Idk if it was just the culture there or the 20+ cops stationed every 50 feet in the store, but it was good overall.

It was the latter. Wearing a gat tends to have this mellowing effect on people. Do I want to wait in line with my inside voice like I'm supposed to, or do I want to spend a couple weeks in ICU with a lungfull of hollow points? 🤔🤔🤔

 

[techGuy777]

Speaking of TVs it seems like Vizio has stepped up their game recently. When I worked at Wally World over a decade ago they were trash and got returned every single day of every single week with black lines on the screen or distorted audio, etc. Customers would always eyeball the low prices, get mad when I recommended a different brand (as if I was getting commission and trying to upsell them), buy the Vizios anyway and then bring it back for a return a month later with a non functioning screen. Sorry Cletus, maybe you shouldn't have spent your rent money on a disposable TV for THE BIG GAME during an economic downturn

Now I own one myself. It has a surprising heft to it for a 32". The first gen Vizios had a noticeably flimsy, "creaky" build quality.



It was the latter. Wearing a gat tends to have this mellowing effect on people. Do I want to wait in line with my inside voice like I'm supposed to, or do I want to spend a couple weeks in ICU with a lungfull of hollow points? 🤔🤔🤔

I agree. The best TVs we carry now are the Vizios. They just put up the Quantum Dot Vizios at my store and they are gorgeous.

 

[daemon]

No lg 55b8's at your store? Those beat the Vizio p series.