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If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
That's the attitude Best Buy is taking toward "show-rooming" with
its new policy to price-match better deals you can find online.
Show-rooming is the practice of finding an item in a physical
store and using a smartphone to look up a better price online. Best
Buy Co. executives have long complained that the practice is
affecting their bottom line.
The new policy probably won't completely fix the problem - in
fact, it will make savvy customers even more likely to use their
smartphones for on-the-spot comparison of Best Buy's prices with
those online. But the company figures that having to sell that
"Downton Abbey" DVD set for $10 dollars less than it would like is
better than not selling it at all.
It's not quite a free-for-all, according to what tipsters have
told the Consumerist website. When Best Buy's policy kicks in March
3, the price matched is before taxes, and the retailer will no
longer do price matches after you've already bought the product.
Additionally, the time you have to return a product goes down from
30 days to 15 days, although if you're a Reward Zone member you'll
have more time.
You'll also be restricted to 19 websites: Amazon.com, Apple.com,
Bhphotovideo.com, Buy.com, Crutchfield.com, Dell.com, Frys.com,
Hhgregg.com, HP.com, Homedepot.com, Lowes.com, Newegg.com,
Officedepot.com, Officemax.com, Sears.com, Staples.com, Target.com,
Tigerdirect.com and Walmart.com.
Still, that's a fairly wide spread of sites. Time will tell how
this works out for Best Buy, but it sounds like a definite plus for
shoppers.
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News Column
Best Buy Fights Show-rooming With Price-matching
Feb 21, 2013
Robert Evatt
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Source: (C) 2013 Tulsa World. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved
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