NEW YORK—Geek Squad, Best Buy's tech support arm, is replacing its iconic "Geekmobile," in an attempt to refresh its image.
It's goal is to become more "geek-chic."
Out: The Volkswagen Beetles that Geek Squad “agents” have mostly been driving since 2004, when Best Buy took it national.
In: A fleet of more than 1,000 Toyota Prius C hybrids, branded with a new logo that’s meant to reflect how Geek Squad’s main mission has evolved in the 22 years since it was founded in Minneapolis. The service operation became part of Best Buy 14 years ago.
“In the past we used to be break-fix,” repairing computers, says Chief Inspector Nate Bauer. Today, more of the company's 21,000 service workers, or agents, are more likely to deliver and install home theaters and appliances, or provide help with “connected” cars, home networks.
Geek Squad’s flat-rate pricing for house calls starts around $99 and depending upon the complexity of the job can rise significantly from there, well into the hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Geek Squad faces competitive pressures, not least of which is the fact that consumers can turn to Google, YouTube or online resources to help solve many traditional technical issues by themselves. Or they may call upon their own geeky next-door neighbor or a co-worker. Then there are a legion of rival mom-and-pop repair shops that have popped up across the U.S. as potential competitors. But Bauer says Geek Squad holds the edge, since "we are best priced, are going to do it better than anyone else -- and are going to have fun."
Best Buy doesn’t break out Geek Squad sales. They are lumped in with other Best Buy “services” businesses, along with such things as extended warranties and service contracts. Services account for 5% of Best Buy’s domestic revenues, amounting to around $1.81 billion; revenues for services declined in the most recent fiscal year by 11.6%, which the company mostly attributed to lower repair revenues from extended protection plan claims.
During a recent earnings call, Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly cited “post-purchase support” as an area of potential growth: “Our services capabilities and Geek Squad are key building blocks of the strategy. We understand that we've discussed service-related opportunities many times in the past. And while it is not visible in our services top line results today, we are in fact making progress to bring these opportunities to life.”
Bauer says the Geekmobile remains Geek Squad’s number one marketing vehicle. “It’s always been about geek-chic and us being cool but still knowing our stuff,” he says. He insists that retiring the Beetles has nothing to do with VW's emissions scandal. The Prius, he says, marries sustainability with technology. Over the life of the vehicle, the Prius C -- a smaller hybrid than the standard Prius -- is expected to produce about half the emissions of the previous Geekmobile.
"It shows that there's a certain level of professionalism that Geek Squad has. It's a huge opportunity for us to reposition ourselves as that true tech expert for all of your technology needs," Bauer says.
To help promote Geek Squad's rebranded image, Von Miller of the NFL's Denver Broncos, a Super Bowl MVP, Dancing With The Stars contestant and self-proclaimed geek, is going to serve as agent during the first house call in the new vehicle.
Geek Squad will also retain some vans for delivering big screens and other bulky items.
In a statement, Toyota national media manager Doug Coleman says, the Geek Squad partnership provides Toyota "with an opportunity to expose the Prius C to thousands of new consumers from coast to coast and every day."
In this promotional video you can see the Geek Squad vehicle changeover.
Geek Squad is not ready—yet--to abandon the manner in which Geek Squad’s agents traditionally dress. Most wear black pants, white shirt, black clip-on tie. “When we introduced this uniform back in 1994, we never had to worry about it going out of style because it never was in style,” Bauer jokes. But he added that “we don’t want to look like the The Blues Brothers or NASA scientists for the rest of our lives. New duds might be the next thing for us.”
Email: ebaig@usatoday.com; Follow USA TODAY Personal Tech Columnist @edbaig on Twitter
