Best Buy Website prices??? (1 Viewer)

[Bob clamer]

My first post in the area and hope it is the right please to vent. I purchased the "Friday the 13 Ultimate DVD" Set today from my local Best Buy ($57.99). I went out on the Best Buy website to look for something and saw a special offer for the set I already purchased and was surpised to see a lower price ($52.18). I printed out the page that showed the price difference and took it back to Best Buy to see if there was a price adjustment. After standing in line for a half hour I finally got to the clerk and questioned the price difference and I was told that Best Buy stores will not pricematch what the BestBuy.com price says. This makes no sense to me. I don't know about you but $5.00 & change is $5.00 & change. (the price difference). Can anyone explain this to me? I called the BB.com phone number and sounded like I got someone from some foreign land and did not know what I was asking. When I asked to speak to someone with authority, "I'm sorry, they are on break at the moment, would you like to hold or call back later". I didn't. That is why I'm writing this now to see if anyone out there can explain this to me. Also sad to see the free shipping is no more. Maybe for Christmas they'll offer it again.
:rolleyes

 

[David Williams]

As insane as it sounds, Best Buy corporate considers its B&M stores to be a separate business entity from its online operations (even though you can make returns, exchanges & pick-ups in store for online purchases)... with this is mind BB doesn't price match online stores.

 

[Bob clamer]

Like I said earlier, makes no sense to me.

 

[SteveBro]

Most, if not all, special online offers on bestbuy.com are clearly marked as such. These offers are often not duplicated in stores because they are funded by manufacturers for the website only. The average customer does not know or understand this, but it makes perfect sense when you understand the business.

There is nothing insane about maintaining a certain level of separation between regular stores and the online store. Makes analysis and tweaking the separate businesses much easier. I would expect to see B&M and the website become more integrated in the future, though. Much of the separation that currently exists is based on technology gaps, not company policy.