Best Buy is widely known for being one of America’s largest electronic retailers.
However, over recent years, most consumers have noticed Best Buy charges higher prices for products than its competitors. So, why is Best Buy so expensive? Here is what I found out!
9 Reasons Why Best Buy Is So Expensive
Several factors contribute to Best Buy’s relatively higher prices. For example, in-home service, top-quality products, an online presence, and a focus on consumer shopping experience are all reasons prices at Best Buy are a little higher.
To learn more reasons why prices at Best Buy are fairly higher than its competitors, keep reading!
1. Impressive Selection Of High-Quality Electronic Products
As a multinational electronic retail store, Best Buy offers consumers a wide selection of high-quality electronic products from leading brands.
From home appliances to gaming systems and audio and visual equipment, Best Buy ensures that customers get quality products for their money.
As a result, most products at Best Buy have relatively higher prices than other electronics in different stores.
In exchange for the relatively higher prices, Best Buy guarantees all its products perform precisely how they’re supposed to.
With that, Best Buy has a guaranteed warranty on all its products, covering any repair and maintenance services if the unexpected happens.
2. An Increasing Online Preference
With the increasing online presence in the past few years, Best Buy is taking advantage of shoppers’ preference to shop from home.
With that, Best Buy currently has a strong online presence that helps increase the company’s profits.
However, most customers have noted that the online prices at Bestbuy.com are slightly higher than in-store prices.
While the online prices may be slightly higher than in-store prices, Best Buy offers customers “Deals of the Day” that provide a price relief on selected items.
Better yet, Best Buy is open to price match select stores if a customer finds a lower price of an identical product.
3. Great Knowledge In Technology
In an era of rapid technological advancement, most consumers are overwhelmed by technology, giving Best Buy a competitive advantage over other stores.
Being a tech company, Best Buy has excellent knowledge about the technology industry.
As a result, Best Buy is adequately staffed with tech experts at customers’ disposal whenever they require more information about electronic products.
These tech experts deserve decent pay, which forces Best Buy to sell some of its products at slightly higher prices than competitors.
4. Brick And Mortar Presence
Even with the increased online presence, Best Buy stores still have unique advantages over its competitors.
As of 2021, Best Buy has over 1000 stores spread across the US, all of which need maintenance and adequate staffing.
Since some consumers still prefer in-store to online shopping to see an item before purchasing, Best Buy maintains its brick-and-mortar stores.
Therefore, to pay for maintenance and staffing of its physical stores, Best Buy’s products are more expensive than competitors with no physical presence.
5. Distinguished Tech Services
Best Buy has a reputation for providing distinguished after-sales services, such as tech support plans.
For instance, customers have access to services like an extended warranty, technical support, one-service repairs, and anti-virus software.
With this wide array of services, Best Buy’s prices are notably higher than strictly e-commerce companies like Amazon, where services come with a fee.
6. Invested In Customer Relationship
Best Buy customers receive better customer service attention than other stores like Amazon.
With that, Best Buy has invested in the Geek Squad technical experts and an In-Home Advisor program that takes care of in-home tech services.
With the heavy investment in customer relationships, some products may be more expensive than those at a competitor’s store.
7. Compensation For Employee Discounts
To reward employee hard work and commitment, Best Buy offers its employees exclusive discounts that are unavailable to other consumers.
For example, Best Buy offers its employees a discount of cost + 5%, which means if Best Buy bought an item at $400 and sold it at $600, employees could buy the product for $420.
Therefore, the employee discount program may cause Best Buy prices to be higher than competitors.
8. Availability Of In-Home Services
In support of online and in-store shopping, Best Buy also has in-home services if a customer needs repairs or maintenance on large electronic equipment.
This way, a customer doesn’t have to stress carrying their equipment to a Best Buy store for services.
As a result, repair services at Best Buy are more expensive than the competitors to support the commute costs.
9. Better Shopping Experience at Best Buy
Best Buy has made customers’ shopping experience far better than competitors such as GameStop.
For example, the company is committed to ensuring the stores are fully stocked, have good lighting, security and cleanliness to encourage customer spending.
To find out more about Best Buy, you can also read our posts on Best Buy’s competitive advantanges, Best Buy’s price adjustment policy, and the Best Buy target market.