Kyle
Although the details are still being worked out, Best Buy has vowed to stay competitive this holiday season by price matching online offering from top rates sites like Amazon.com.
There’s a new phenomena in retail that’s stemmed directly from online sales, dubbed “showrooming”. Showrooming is when customers walk into their neighborhood electronics big box store to touch and feel products they will ultimately purchase online because of pricing. Until now, Best Buy would not match prices found online at sites like Amazon.
Amazon, while a huge operation in itself, still doesn’t have nearly the overhead that a brick and mortar retail chain like Best Buy or HH Gregg have.
Not only that, but while Best Buy will go into the black during the holiday season, the cost of business increases drastically. Best Buy more than doubles their in-store work force, and has to contend with an onslaught of returns after Christmas.
Best Buy has gone through some major executive changes at their home office in Minnesota including the ousting of career man and former CEO Brian Dunn. Scott Durchslag is the companies new head of e-commerce, who’s been preaching price competitiveness since his arrival.
The goal with offering price matching with amazon.com is to convert those showrooming customers into actual sales.
“Once they’re in the store, they’re yours to lose,” Durchslag Business Insider.“A lot of people talk and write about the ‘showrooming’ phenomenon. It’s a symptom, not a cause. There are things that you’re not doing for the consumer that makes them not want to purchase.”
It’s unclear if the price match move will be temporary through the holidays or continue on as policy.
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Source: Business Insider
