In case you were following the Best Buy In-Store Kiosk saga, I’m happy to report the final case-closed update on the matter.
Best Buy In-Store Kiosks allow users to browse the store in an interface that matches BestBuy.com. Initially however, they only listed in-store prices, which were not the same as referenced online. Sometimes they’re higher, sometimes they’re lower. This caused valid outcry from consumer advocates (including myself). Customers would bring in BestBuy.com to price match, and the store employee would show the in-store kiosk and claim the price online was out-of-date.
Now, last year, Best Buy fixed this problem. They added a huge banner to each page saying that the price was in-store, and did not reflect the pricing of BestBuy.com.
However, the latest update, as shown above, they now list the lowest price of the two. So, if it’s cheaper online, that’s the price that is shown. If it’s cheaper in the particular Best Buy store, that’s the price shown. And, they’ve also added the ability to do things you previously needed an employee for… like checking stock of nearby stores. You can now see exactly how many units other nearby Best Buy stores have in-stock.
California Best Buy stores now also display state-mandated notices which require them to honor the lowest advertised price.
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I have totally opposite observation: their Kiosk now shows the highest price available between web and store. As of today (2/25/2007) most store has PNY 8600 GT video card on clearance, their tag price range between $40 to $107, but their Kiosk shows $183.99 in every store I went to.
Hi Chris, there is a clear answer to why that’s happening. As the Kiosk states in that yellow-label-warning… the kiosk does not list clearance pricing.
The $40 markdown (and I know exactly the card you’re talking about) is indeed on clearance. As such, the kiosk doesn’t list it.
Are they required to list clearance pricing? I don’t think so… but it is certainly debatable. If something is on clearance, the goal is to mark it down directly at the point of presence (in the store). Also, there are technical limitations, since BestBuy.com (which the kiosks route through) are never fed clearance pricing.
I don’t think it’s a big deal since that would only aid the clearance deal hunters. I’m one of them, but I’ve also shown everyone how to leverage RSS from the Employee Toolkit… so that shouldn’t matter to the savvy clearance hunter.
The reason the price are cheaper online is because they are outlet prices! They are open box items and stuff like that! That is why they are cheaper!!! It’s not a scam, Best Buy is an honest company with great employees to help the customer!
Actually, Mott, most “outlet” items are just regular clearance markdowns. The in-store kiosks exclude c-class markdowns, regardless of if the items are new or used.
This is mostly because different stores markdown prices at different rates. Thus, they don’t want people realizing that you can price match one store against the other on a clearance.
[...] a result of lawsuits filed in Connecticut and California, Best Buy management “fixed” the problem by adding a banner to each page on the in-store web site indicating that the prices shown were [...]
[...] a result of lawsuits filed in Connecticut and California, Best Buy management “fixed” the problem by adding a banner to each page on the in-store web site indicating that the prices shown were [...]