Is Best Buy Really Trying To End Showrooming? HD GURU Investigates
Greg Tarr,
June 24, 2012
4 min read
Best Buy’s acting CEO Mike Mikan announced on Thursday the chain is working to end the practice of “showrooming,” when a customer goes into a brick and mortar store to decide which product to buy but then buys online for a better deal.
But are they really? Do their TV prices in-store match their own prices online, or Amazon’s prices? HD Guru set out to investigate.
We checked the price of 15 top selling HDTVs by combining the top eight top-selling HDTV models for Q1 2012 carried by both Amazon and Best Buy and the current seven top selling HDTVs sold by Amazon. Q1 data was provided by consumer electronics industry research firm Quixel Research, Amazon data was supplied by Amazon.
The verdict? Contrary to the what Mikan said, Best Buy continues to charge a higher price in-store than on bestbuy.com or Amazon.com for same HDTV! Here’s how it broke down:
When we compared Amazon prices to our local Best Buy store prices, 9 out of the 10 models carried by both were priced lower on Amazon, with Best Buy in store customers being up-charged from $10.83 to $405 more for the same HDTV. One model was priced the same.
We compared prices on all 15 models available at Amazon and bestbuy.com. 4 models were priced lower on Amazon. 8 of the HDTVs were priced within a dollar of each other. The 3 remaining models were priced lower on bestbuy.com
Save On The Best Selling HDTVs
It should be noted, Best Buy charges shipping for HDTVs (under 46-inches) sent to your home (its free, if you elect in-store pick-up). This was not factored into the listed bestbuy.com prices. When the Best Buy home delivery charge was factored into the price, only 2 of the 15 HDTVs sold both bestbuy.com and Amazon was still priced lower at bestbuy.com.
Best Buy’s brick and mortar store surveyed carried 10 out of the 15 models on our list. All are priced higher in-store than at bestbuy.com. The price difference is between $21 to $406! Best Buy does offer to price-match its own on-line price if you bring the discrepancy it to the salesperson’s attention prior to checkout.
All 10 HDTVs sold in store at Best Buy were priced higher than the same models sold by Amazon.
Readers should note: Only the states of Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, New York, North Dakota and Washington currently collect sales tax on Amazon orders. All Best Buy stores within states that charge sales tax collects it, adding to the final price paid at checkout. We did not factor this into our survey.
Below is the list of top selling HDTV in the survey, with prices labeled as follows:
Make, model number, and screen size
Key: A=Amazon Price; BBO=Best Buy online; BBS= Best Buy in store; NA= not available in Best Buy store.
The 8 Top selling HDTVs for Q1 2012 carried by BB and Amazon (not in any particular order)
Toshiba 32C120U 32-Inch 
Philips 32PFL3506/F7 32-inch 
Magnavox 32MF301B/F7 32-Inch 
Sony BRAVIA KDL32BX330 
Samsung UN22D5003 22-Inch [2011 model]
Coby TFTV3229 32-Inch 
Toshiba 40E220U 40-Inch 
Samsung LN32D403 32-Inch LCD [2011 model]
Current top selling HDTVs, data supplied by Amazon
Panasonic TC-L42E50 42-Inch 
LG 47LM6700 47-Inch 
LG 42CS560 42-Inch 
LG 47LM7600 47-Inch 
Samsung UN32EH4000 32-Inch 
Samsung UN32EH5000 
Samsung UN26EH4000 26-Inch 
All listed HDTVs are linked to Amazon. Amazon and bestbuy.com prices listed were obtained on 6/22/12 and may change at any time, bestbuy store prices were obtained on 6/23/12. All Amazon listed TVs prices above include shipping. Amazon prices listed are offered by Amazon direct or one of its participating dealers under their respective policies. We listed whichever Amazon seller has the lowest price. We recommend and affiliate (we may earn a small commission on referred sales) with Amazon because they have among the best HDTV policies in the industry. Amazon direct offers 14 day low price guarantee and 30 Day returns with free return freight. They stand behind their sales. Note: prices are correct as of posting and may change at any time, please verify with our links; Most states do not collect sales tax on Amazon orders with the exceptions of [CO, KS, KY, NY, ND & WA]. You always must pay sales tax (in states that collect it) when buying at a brick and mortar store. Should you buy an HDTV from on-line or from a retail store? Learn all the pros and cons in our article here.
Have a question for the HD Guru?
HD GURU|Email
Copyright ©2012 HD Guru Inc. All rights reserved. HDGURU is a registered trademark.
11 Comments
Comments are closed.
it should be noted that samsung and sony carry a unilateral minimum pricing policy on many of their larger tv’s, meaning that their larger tv’s should be within spitting distance of each other anywhere you look. this holds true if you actually look at pricing of just about any 6100 series and up samsung and many new for 2012 sony’s. i know for a fact that the other big brands, panasonic and lg, are almost always spot on price-wise when compared to amazon. like others have said before me, instant gratification is everything with consumers and most do not want to have to deal with having a tv shipped from somewhere. i certainly know i would prefer not to have a higher quality plasma shipped by an online vendor.
In response to oldAGE, I agree with you. My state (Taxachusetts as it is called!) upped the sales tax from 5% to 6.25% to help the “budget shortfalls”. New Hampshire is 1 hour away with 0% sales tax. It is an OBVIOUS choice for many here to drive to buy a big ticket item (as long as you can bring it home yourself)
In response to bugsy, you are correct…NO commission for the employees, just hourly. This is what KILLED Circuit City. I used to work @ CC a long time ago (feels like another lifetime!) and it was straight commission then…and we would bust our asses to make $$. Then the sea of corporate change swept over them, and they eliminated (meaning FIRED) the salesforce and hired uncaring “order takers” at a low pay rate. Now, I know that CC sunk due to many, many reasons, but a major shift was when they decided to re-org, and it FAILED miserably, but it was too late.
You said that they don’t offer delivery for 46″ TVs and up online at bestbuy.com. Well I’m on their website, and they do. I even looked at the cheapest 46″ (RCA for $500) and it very obviously says free.
I just thought you should update your information to reflect this. You say they didn’t as of Sunday, and today (Wednesday) they do.
We updated the article to reflect the change.
HD Guru
I have heard (unconfirmed) that Best Buy sales people do not receive commissions. Commission-receiving salespeople are a subject for debate as to whether that serves the consumer well or not.
Nevertheless, if true, this could explain my Best Buy experiences of having to cross-body block Best Buy sales people and pin them to the floor in order to get any help from them.
I agree both with Thom and Dave… In my neck of the woods in an era gone by, CompUSA, Circuit City and Best Buy were all within 1/3 of a mile from each other. The brick and mortar competition was fierce and Amazon was an “also ran.” For sales tax, the instant gratification for key items was a burden worth bearing. It was not worth my time to shop it on-line to a certain degree.
Now that Best Buy is the only game in town along with Target (very limited scope) and Walmart (bigger scope but still towards the “value end”), Best Buy is not getting it. My state is not getting it either. As my income is under pressure, not from local taxation but rather real cost of living and reduced earning potential (the new world economy) – I do change. I am more hyper-sensitive to both relatively large pricing differences and the cost of sales tax. The latter is more of a political statement due to my household income being unfairly attacked by a right wing agenda.
So, as long as Best Buy doesn’t change, the only thing that can change is my buying habit. Best Buy loses, my state loses, the local economy loses… I win. AGE
Thom,
I totally agree and shop similar to you for big ticket TVs. To achieve theri stated goal, Best Buy must meet or beat the online price and/or offer customers benefits they cannot get buying online. This is not rocket science but it does involve the risk of change.
If they really do intend to try to end this type of shopping…good luck! They will NEVER succeed without BEATING the price(s) offered online. I have made major purchases from both BB and Amazon, but here in MA, sales tax is 6.25%…and adds up fast. Unlike most consumers, I am looking to purchase a large(r) TV for around $3000. Only Magnolia offered it (NOT regular BB), and Amazon. Now Magnolia doesn’t have it. OK, so I am NOT the typical TV customer, however; when I was “in-store” shopping, the only price I was quoted was MSRP. $5,999!!!! Amazon price SAME DAY $$3,750 (NOW down to $2,999!!!) with NO tax, and FREE shipping! I Even showed the salesman the webpage from my phone…he wouldn’t go online to confirm it and only told me “we don’t price match online retailers like Amazon since they are not authorized resellers.” Um, OK, but it was being sold by a national chain via Amazon who IS authorized!
Granted, this was a Magnolia issue, rather than a BB one, but I am sure it still reflects the atmosphere in the store(s). They treat customers like they are stupid, and they are surprised that we “showroom shop” them? Really? $40 for a 6 foot HDMI cable??!!?? REALLY?!?
And, the of course pressured “insurance” programs (let’s not get into a debate if they are good, evil, etc. here) are way way too expensive in store too. Generally 2 or 3x more than an online policy from Squaretrade, etc. Again, treating the customer like an idiot.
No thanks, Best Buy….no thanks.
I missed the original posting by the poster “The Truth”, whose very name invokes a certain skepticism to anything that follows under their byline. Such a juvenile approach to self-naming. Too bad as they may have had a worthwhile message. Anyway, years ago I would roam the Best Buy aisles amazed at their wide selection of electronics. Sometimes I’d buy and sometimes I’d look elsewhere locally for better deals. That was when they dominated my local market though there was Circuit City, Tweeters, and other local electronics sellers within 15 minutes drive. Times changed, the market changed, and so did I. Best Buy didn’t! Was it the uninformed and untrained salespeople who pressured me to purchase insurance policies on everything from batteries to boom boxes? Or their attempt to sell me outrageously priced cables and audio/video accessories to go with my new TV? Was it their ridiculous policy of offering one price online and another in the store then failing to tell me they’d match their online price if only I’d mention it? Come on! I don’t know but over time I lost interest. I haven’t been in a Best Buy in over a year. They seem to have lost the competitive advantage for my electronics buying dollars. I’d return in a heartbeat if they really do get competitive, offer an Apple Store-like buyers experience, and really update themselves.
Best Buy offers Free Delivery for TVs 46″+ so it’s not just in-store pickup.
For in store sales, not online sales.
HD Guru
So because I live in the state of Minnesota my comments are invalid, that’s great. I could be a 12 year old kid, or an 80 year old retiree for all you know. Whether I am/was/will be a Best Buy employee, has no bearing on the legitimacy of the information I posted.
I see that your disclaimer about Amazon commisions is the article now. Perhaps I over looked this the first time, or maybe it was added after I left my comment. Either way, thank you for putting it in there.
The personal attacks were out of line, I’ll accept that. I submitted a revised post with these attacks removed and it still didn’t get posted.
There was no offensive language, spam, or advertisements in my post.
My comments were hardly self servicing. I could care less where a person chooses to purchase their TV. Hence the reason for the final paragraph in my comment. I just want readers to be informed and not be swayed by the bias of the site as it has a financial interest associated to it’s content.
I said nothing about the TVs you posted not being popular. I would argue that they are largely TVs that are not subjected to “showrooming”. The TVs that consumers are currently “showrooming” are models that I mentioned; large premium flat panels. These are also sets that are price protected as you mentioned for the specific reason of stopping “showrooming”.
Regardless of everything mentioned above, this site still refuses to acknowledge the competitve advantages that were mentioned in my post. You highlight the competitve advantages of buying through Amazon such as no sales tax in select states, 14 day price match, and 30 return. But you don’t mention the competitive advantages of purchasing through Best Buy which I highlighted.
Gary, I am a very, very long time reader of your site. A lot of the reviews and how-to articles here have always been excellent. But you simply cannot deny that the articles like this have a certain level of bias.
We will have to agree to disagree about “bias”. I want Best Buy to turn around and succeed, but to date they talk the talk but do not the take actions necessary for future success IMHO. If the CEO wants to end showrooming how can he justify the continuation of the company’s two price policy on the best selling HDTVs?
I never stated Best Buy has bad policies, although I have written how the are not always followed on the store level. I still can’t consistently get a price match on a Blu-ray disc sold by Wal-mart even though one local BB is right next door to one. It is all hit and miss which employee I get to deal with, a sign of bad store training and management.
CE Retail has changed radically in the past few years. BB is the last national consumer electronics chain standing but continues to operate its stores as if it’s 2002. Audio and video is trending to streaming, but BB continues to devote thousands of sq. ft to CDs and DVDs and Blu-rays. Products that could be more profitable if they were able to properly demonstrate and explain such as surround sound systems and better quality HTiBs are on static display. I could go on and on and perhaps will write an editorial in the near future.
HD Guru investigates claims and statements whether from a national retailer or a TV manufacturer or other company. If we find the information is misleading, inaccurate or contrary to our information, we will continue to write about it and let the chips fall where they may.
We have just instituted a new test procedure for TV testing and will expose a significant misleading claim by a major manufacturer this week. Stay tuned
HD Guru
HD Guru,
Why did you completely remove “The Truth’s” comments? You didn’t like what they had to say? You could have just edited some of the script, where appropriate.
Although you were quick to remove the comment, I, and surely several other readers were able to view and read the interesting points.
So much for free speech.
Note to other readers;
There was no inappropriate language used, just a personal attack on Gary (unacceptable) and general comments he did not like because it was contradicting his article. These personal attacks could have just been edited and noted.
I took it down for the following reasons:
The commenter’s IP address was a stones throw from Best Buy’s headquarters, but the writer would not identify himself, making it an almost certainty that the writer was Best Buy employee but not authorized to speak for the company.
The comment was inaccurate regarding what is contained in the article and accused me of omitting information that is in the article.
As you mention, there was a personal attack within based on a lie and I find no reason for me to accept that nonsense. Our policy is remove any comment that is a personal attack on anyone.
We do not want to encourage flaming.
BTW, we are family friendly website so we also remove any comments that contains foul or offensive language. We do not permit spamming or other advertising within comments.
Our readers make really excellent and thoughtful comments and I have removed only a hand full of unacceptable comments over the years.
His self servicing comments contained inaccurate portions. In brief he did not feel the top selling TVs for Q1 and currently sold HDTVs is an accurate representation of which HDTVs folks are buying (huh????) Instead he listed all but two models that are under Unilateral Pricing Policy from Sony and Samsung to show BB sells the same price, ignoring the fact that no authorized dealer can sell below the UPP price. For readers that want to learn more about the UPP program read
http://hdgurucom.wpengine.com/will-samsungs-new-pricing-plan-end-hdtv-price-shopping-hd-guru-exclusive/7317/#more-7317 and http://hdgurucom.wpengine.com/sony-joins-samsung-with-a-one-price-hdtv-strategy/7510/
HD Guru