Well, the rumors were true! Want to reserve a Blackberry Storm and guarantee yourself one of hottest phones to hit Verizon? Don't call a Verizon Wireless store and put yourself on some waiting list that the manager may or may not even bother to look at the day the Storm hits the stores. Head on over to Best Buy where, for a $50 refundable deposit, you can reserve yourself a brand new Blackberry Storm. It will be sitting pretty waiting for you on launch day! This pre-sale is effective immediately, so you best be getting yourself over to Best Buy asap. Now that we got you all excited, the email does confirm that as of November 3rd, there is no set release date or pricing. Don't let your hopes be dashed too much as it does reveal that the Storm is expected to launch in November and will be priced between $199.99 and $299.99 for a two-year new activation. Last but not least, Best Buy will receive adequate inventory to cover the number of pre-sold Storms. So if you pre-order, you're in like flint come launch day! Hit the jump for the text of the email.
Thanks, anonymous (you know who you are!)
Start pre-selling the Storm!
Unique Opportunity to Pre-sell Blackberry Storm!
Effective immediately, customers may pay a portion of the purchase price to reserve a Blackberry Storm handset. This is a huge, exclusive opportunity for Best Buy Mobile - no one else is doing it - and something we haven't done in this area of the business before. Many customers who may not have considered Best Buy as a Storm source will arrive in our stores to be guaranteed a handset!
As of Nov. 3, the sales price and official launch date for the Storm have not been set - despite blog rumors to the contrary. It is safe to assume the handset will be priced between $199.99 and $299.99 for a two-year new activation and will launch sometime in mid-November. Stay tuned to Employee News where we will announce the price once it is set.
Your store will receive inventory to cover the quantity of pre-sold Storms plus other sellable inventory for launch day. The pre-sell SKU must be rung up to ensure inventory arrives at store.
Please review the process below which is critical to execution of the customer experience for this new process:
Pre-selling the Blackberry Storm: The Process
* Customer pays $50 in store prior to launch date
* Employee scans the UPC on the Storm presell flyer and processes in POS
* Scanning this SKU is critical to ensure your store will receive adequate inventory to cover your presell quantities
* Click here to access the pre-sale form
* Click here for the "Coming Soon, Reserve Yours Today" flyer
* Employee makes a copy of the completed Storm pre-sell flyer
* Employee staples the original copy of the Storm pre-sell flyer to the customer's receipt
* Employee files the copy of the Storm pre-sell flyer in a specially created Storm pre-sell folder in the 1-31 file
* Customer sets an appointment with the Best Buy Mobile employee to come in and pick up their reserved Storm
* Customers who purchase a pre-sell prior to the release date will not be able to set their appointment yet. Best Buy Mobile employees will need to contact customers at a later date with the information on the pre-sell form copy to set the appointment with these customers.
* Stores will need to maintain a master appointment form or file to keep track of all customer appointments.
* Employee attaches copy of pre-sell form to inventory when it arrives in store and sets it aside as reserved.
* Customer returns at their appointment time to pick up their handset
* Employee process an activation on the Storm
* Employee process an exchange transaction
* The presell SKU is returned on this transaction
* The Storm product and activation SKU are then added to the transaction
* The net of the transaction of the Storm less the pre-sale amount
* Customer leaves happy
* If the customer does not return for their appointment time, contact the customer to reschedule an appointment.
* Hold the product for 48 hours from the appointment time for your customer before putting it back into inventory
* The $50 deposit is 100% refundable if the customer chooses not to or cannot purchase the Storm.
