It may be a joint venture in name, but Carphone Warehouse is asserting control over Best Buy Europe

At the start of 2010, I wrote a series of predictions on this blog, most of which of course turned out to be nonsense. One which proved slightly controversial was that Best Buy was going to find it much harder to make an impact in the UK than many were assuming. When I turned up at the opening of the first store in Thurrock Best Buy Europe chief executive Scott Wheway bent my ear about it, saying he “choked on his cornflakes” when he read that remark.

Well, nine months on and six stores later, Wheway is gone, and although he will still be advising Best Buy in the US, COO Andrew Harrison has taken over responsiblity for Best Buy Europe. Harrison is one of Charles Dunstone’s most trusted lieutenants and runs Carphone Warehouse in the UK and Europe, and while the company would deny it, there’s a clear sense that Carphone is asserting control over the Best Buy Europe joint venture.

Wheway is the third key departure since Best Buy launched after Paul Antoniadis and DeVere Forster, and there’s no doubt its roll out has been much slower than intended. The company has spun it that the plan was always for Wheway - a very well regarded retail operator from him time at Tesco and Boots - to step back once the initial launch phase had been completed, but I don’t think anyone’s going to buy that and certainly no-one in the company had previously intimated that his was going to be a short-term role.

Best Buy’s big boxes are perfectly good, but the problem is that with just six stores the brand has achieved no traction or recognition in the UK yet. And while Best Buy is very good, Dixons’ new store formats are very good too and its service has improved a lot, to say nothing of John Lewis, while Comet, Argos, the supermarkets and the pure play etailers are all battling for share in a market which isn’t big enough for all of them to play in.

I’d expect to see a change in focus from Best Buy, and the plans for big box stores to be scaled back further in favour of a focus on the web and possibly also some sort of tie up with Carphone in its’ stores, given both their focus on “the connected world”. Certainly in terms of management Best Buy is going to lean more heavily on Carphone’s resource, which sensibly avoids duplication at a time when the Best Buy venture is haemorrhaging cash. It will also help that Carphone is a very well run company.

As for my original prediction about Best Buy, I’m sticking with it.