Most retailers devour marketing and inventory data to try to boost sales and reduce costs.
Electronics giant Best Buy has gone a step further by reinventing itself around the flow of information. Megan Barnett Chris Pellettieri has been spending more time than money at Best Buy lately. Twice the young schoolteacher walked into the store in Long Island City, N.Y., during his lunch break to buy the Madden NFL 2001 football videogame. And both times he walked out empty-handed because the item was out of stock. This isn't supposed to happen at Best Buy - especially since the electronics retailer spent hundreds of millions of dollars to prevent such disappointments.