Best Buy, or worst buy?

Best Buy is a well known retailer of electronics that is famous for its price match guarantee. However, the price match guarantee that they offer may be more of a deceptive trick than an actual good deal for consumers. In this article about a lawsuit against Best Buy for false advertising and deceptive practices, it quotes Best Buy’s website that says, “If you are about to make a purchase and discover a lower advertised price offered by a local retail competitor on the same available brand and model, let us know and we'll match that price on the spot.” However it also gives evidence from an internal company memo which says that an employee’s first priority should be to build a case against a price match. Best Buy uses every loophole they can think of to avoid actually giving the price match that they promise.

When a consumer sees a price match guarantee they are automatically attracted to that retailer, because no matter what other retailers charge, they can get the lowest price. This price matching strategy eliminates price competition in a market as well as eliminating any gains other firms can receive from price cutting. Best Buy uses this fact to gain customers over its competitors. However, Best Buy also realizes that it can of course earn more revenue if they do not actually match a competitor’s lower price in their sale. They find small details to refuse price matches such as differing model numbers, out of stock goods, internet prices, etc. to refuse a price match. They have also been known to charge high restocking fees if a customer then wants to return their item. Best Buy profits from this “false advertising” by using their price matching claims to attract consumers and then finding ways to still charge a higher price.

- Eric Barnum, Lauren Borowick and Mirza Klis