We talked last week about how Walmart and Best Buy were both on the same page on Black Friday hours; with stores in New Jersey applying to local townships to open on Thursday at midnight.
Now Walmart and Best Buy have something else in common; offering price matching on internet products. In addition to price matching against competitors like amazon.com, Best Buy will also be offering free home delivery on out of stock merchandise this holiday season and same-day, in-store pick-up of products purchased online.
Why is Best Buy doing this?
Best Buy suffers during the holiday season from something known as “Showrooming”. We’ve all done it. Customers come in and check out an item in person to get a feel for it, and then go home and shop online for a better price once they decide that they want it. When customers do this Best Buy becomes a “showroom” for their online-only competitors like amazon.com and buy.com.
Before you start hunting online for bargains there are a few restrictions:
- Local stores have been authorized to match online prices of competitors ONLY for appliances and consumer electronics.
- Items that will NOT qualify for price matching include: smartphones, and anything with software or entertainment content such as CDs, DVDs, and games.
- Prices will be matched at the discretion of Best Buy employees on the sales floor
- Best Buy’s price matching will take place now through Nov. 17 and from Nov. 27 to Dec. 24, leaving out a 10-day period around Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Have you ever done any extensive Showrooming at a store? What sort of items were you looking at? How much did you end up saving by buying online? Let us know in the comments!
Remember: Price matching at Best Buy will NOT be in effect on Black Friday or on the 5 days before or after Black Friday.
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About Kathryn Denton
Kathryn is studying Public Relations and Advertising at DePaul University. An avid reader and musician, she loves cats, cross-stitching and anything Chinese - except the food.
i always do that! go to bestbuy and see what i like go online and get it for cheaper if they have a tv thats $600 dollars! i could get it online for about $450 But if they start matching prices i will buy from best buy no dout!
[...] the weekend we reported that Best Buy would be price matching online competitors in efforts to cut down on losses due to [...]
My example of “Showrooming”. Yesterday I was in Target to purchase two board games and the book Strength Finders. I had a feeling that the prices were high so I googled amazon.com on my smart phone and on the spot realized I could save $5 on the book and $15 on the two board games. Well worth the effort to wait. So I went home and order all three from Amazon with free shipping!