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Comment by gnicholas | Hacker News Reader

One reason Best Buy is still alive is that they effectively price discriminate between online buyers and in-store buyers.

I saw a deal for a 48” Vizio TV on bestbuy.com for $206 (in 2016, this was a screaming deal). I ordered for in-store pickup. When I went to the store, I saw the TV was listed for sale at $400 or so, with no indication of a better price online.

So Best Buy makes tons of money off folks who wander in, while doing good volume on online sales with lower margins.

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I mean, convenience has a cost/value. Moseying to your local retailer and walking out with a thing has value. Now, whether that's ~$194 of value, IDK.

But like the original commenter, the thing I love about Best Buy (and other mortar and brick retailers) is the "I dont have to wait on shipping and lost orders" thing.

Oddly, I've had the opposite experience (in Canada): the online price would be the same as on Amazon. I wanted it now, so I went to the store (even though I hate driving to the suburbs/shopping mall), only to see that the item was 10% cheaper in the store.

(we always pay taxes for online purchases, so taxes are a non-issue)

How strange! I’d think that anyone who caught onto this pattern would check the in-store price before completing the pickup. If the price is lower in-store, you could just cancel the online order and purchase off the shelf!

Ah, to clarify: I would not bother ordering online, so it was a pleasant surprise to find the lower price in-store.

I think the line that they use is that bestbuy.com is a different business then best buy. something like that.

A lot of stores have that model- effectively putting online in competition with brick and mortar. I heard the founder of Staples (Stemberg) speak to this early in e-retail. Somebody asked how they were handling the upcoming online pressure, and he said they made it a separate unit with their own strategies, etc.

You think it is free to have that building, that staff, the parking lot, the electricity??

You need all that even if you're just running a warehouse.

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