Best Buy and I Am Legend

[ben7ben3]

I went in to one of my Best Buys today, and whoever is in charge of their stock is insane.

As we know, BB is charging 34.99 for I am Legend. I thought it might be less during the first week, but no.

In any case, I am not exaggerating here, my Best Buy had 110-125 copies of I Am Legend on Blu Ray, taking up an entire shelf by themselves.

Now this would not be sensible at all even if the price was 24.99. There is no way they are going to be able to sell even a quarter of those at 34.99 when Amazon is charging half that.

anybody else's best buys have this issue? this is the most blu rays of one movie I have seen yet in stock.

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by ben7ben3

I went in to one of my Best Buys today, and whoever is in charge of their stock is insane.

As we know, BB is charging 34.99 for I am Legend. I thought it might be less during the first week, but no.

In any case, I am not exaggerating here, my Best Buy had 110-125 copies of I Am Legend on Blu Ray, taking up an entire shelf by themselves.

Now this would not be sensible at all even if the price was 24.99. There is no way they are going to be able to sell even a quarter of those at 34.99 when Amazon is charging half that.

anybody else's best buys have this issue? this is the most blu rays of one movie I have seen yet in stock.

$34.99 is a very high price. Especially for a Warner title. I have seen 150+ copies for Spiderman 3, and over 200 copies for POTC At World's End.

[BruceWayne]

It's actually $27.99 at BB this week...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....p=1&id=1835768

[gvortex7]

Originally Posted by BruceWayne

It's actually $27.99 at BB this week...

I think that's only online at Bestbuy.com.

[bkbluray]

Originally Posted by gvortex7

I think that's only online at Bestbuy.com.

Best Buy matches their online price in-store.

EDIT: Also, it was $27.99 in store as well (until my price match of course!).

[BruceWayne]

They will match their own price, plus you can order and just do "Pick up in store"

or print out Target's website and go pick it up for $18.95 got mine for that first thing on Tuesday

[gvortex7]

Originally Posted by bkbluray

Best Buy matches their online price in-store.

Actually, usually they don't. Well, they're not supposed to anyway. With that said, I've had them price match a few items before.

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by gvortex7

I think that's only online at Bestbuy.com.

Just checkd the Weekly Ad, and the price this week is $27.99. That's better

[Wing Nut Jay]

That is pretty much par-for-the-course for BB. Their prices and selection have been getting progressibely worse as time has gone on. They're not even my store of choice for Blu-ray anymore; Fry's is. With a very large selection and price - on average - about $10 lower than BB.

However, according to the ad BB released on Sunday (3/16); the Blu-ray of "I Am Legend" was supposed to be on sale for $27.99. But it wouldn't be the first time BB hasn't had their sales right. (When I do buy from BB, it's usually during a sale; and they usually don't have their sales programmed into the computer. I 've had to argue with cashiers and bring back posted prices off the shelf to prove I wasn't lying.)

Sorry BB, I used to love you guys, but right now I feel like Michael did when he found out Sonny betrayed him. "You broke my heart, BB. You broke my heart!"

[gvortex7]

Originally Posted by BruceWayne

They will match their own price, plus you can order and just do "Pick up in store"

or print out Target's website and go pick it up for $18.95 got mine for that first thing on Tuesday

Good for you bud. The ironic thing about that is that they know Target online = Amazon, and yet they still price matched you. Best Buy definitely doesn't price match Amazon normally.

[BruceWayne]

unless it says "Online Special Only" or something like that they have always done it for me

[BruceWayne]

Originally Posted by gvortex7

Good for you bud. The ironic thing about that is that they know Target online = Amazon, and yet they still price matched you. Best Buy definitely doesn't price match Amazon normally.

Yeah, I don't think they know at my store anyway... I have gone straight up and asked them if the match Amazon before, and after they say no, I hand them a printout of Target's website and they do it from there.

[Kinsella5]

Regarding Best Buy, are you sure you were looking carefully at the price? The MSRP is $34.99, yes, but even Best Buy.com is selling it for $27.99. Chances are it may look like $34.99 but it will ring up as cheaper, or they hadn't yet put a sale price on the rack noting this. Best Buy, and other major retailers dont usually charge full MSRP on DVD or Blu-Ray movies. One of the best times to buy is during the first week of release (Tuesday-Saturday) as that is generally when the price is the lowest to entice people to buy. You can always purchase on Best Buy.com and select store pick up and get their price, take a print out of the price on their website, or even tell them at the store that the website is cheaper and they will price match it easily. It sounds like they didn't put up the correct price.

Retailers are going to be even more aggressive in their pricing now that the format war is over. Just because Blu-Ray won, doesn't mean a retailer can charge full price for a Blu-Ray title, because there will be another competitor that under cuts another. That is where we, as consumers, win out in most cases, which is price-matching. Retailers don't want to lose a customer, regardless of the sale to a competitor. Prices are going to have to be lower now than ever, or in the coming months, to compete with each other, and to get the business from consumers. Best Buy and others, generally won't price match online deals (unless it is from their very own site or a local competitor site like Circuit City, Target, etc) but they wont price match Buy.com, Amazon.com, etc. It is because those places aren't store-based, they are online only.

Best Buy's recent announcement about giving store credit in the form of a gift card to those who purchased an HD-DVD player is smart thinking. This forces the HD-DVD adopters to spend that gift card at Best Buy, which in turn, will mean customers will more than likely buy additional Blu-Ray titles at the same time for cash. Best Buy was wise to offer this, beating most, if not all, competitors to grab the consumer's attention and bringing in customers to Best Buy for their Blu-Ray needs.

Some retailers like Barnes & Noble.com just don't seem to get it. They charge full MSRP on their titles, and I can't seem them being a big player in the Blu-Ray or DVD market for that matter at those prices. They are hoping people will just buy it regardless of price, to get free shipping out of the deal when they buy a book, etc. If B&N were wise, they would compete price wise with the likes of Buy.com, Amazon.com, etc.

Price matching is one of the best things we have going for us as consumers, so take advantage of it whenever possible. For example, unrelated to Blu-Ray, the electronics chain "Fry's" has the new XBOX 360 game "Rainbow Six Vegas 2" for only $39.99 whereas everyone else is $59.99. That is a $20 savings and there is no way Fry's is making a single penny off the sales of that game, in fact, they are probably losing money, but hoping to gain new customers. While one of my Best Buy's by my place will price match them since they are only about 15 minutes away, another Best Buy further north, won't, but the Circuit City across the street will. In the end, I had the Best Buy that doesn't usually price match Fry's, go ahead and do it, because they know I could just go across the street and get the deal.

[CMSBlu1]

Its 27.99 instore too. They have the price on the shelf and they did have a LOT of copies. A whole shelf to itself.

[CassilineKnight]

If you don't like BB's prices then why shop there?

It is a free country...go to CC or any other store if their prices truly hurt you that much.

Seriously this whole price matching crap is stupid and I don't even work in retail. People just love to be cheap these days. If you want a cheaper price then go to a store that has it at your preferred pricepoint...

Don't try to screw a company out of money just cuz you feel entitled to something you really aren't.

[BruceWayne]

Originally Posted by CassilineKnight

Don't try to screw a company out of money just cuz you feel entitled to something you really aren't.

It's not screwing them out of money it is lowering the profit they make off of you. And in the case of BB, they have made more than enough money off of me over the years that I don't mind making them price-match a movie

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by CassilineKnight

Don't try to screw a company out of money just cuz you feel entitled to something you really aren't.

If the company has a price matching policy, you're not screwing anyone out of anything. If they priced their items competitively, they wouldn't have to match.

[BStecke]

Originally Posted by CassilineKnight

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]If you don't like BB's prices then why shop there?

It is a free country...go to CC or any other store if their prices truly hurt you that much.

Circuit City is worse . . . and really, any B&M store is about the same.

Originally Posted by CassilineKnight

Seriously this whole price matching crap is stupid and I don't even work in retail. People just love to be cheap these days. If you want a cheaper price then go to a store that has it at your preferred pricepoint...

Don't try to screw a company out of money just cuz you feel entitled to something you really aren't.

Being cheap and being smart with your money are two totally different things. There's no sense in pissing money away when you don't have to. That's just plain stupid. By price matching, especially on something like this where it's a ten dollar difference, that adds up to a bunch more movies that can be purchased just by being aware of pricing.

No one is getting screwed. The companies are still profiting off of this, and in the long term probably making more due to the increased volume of sales. If a potential Best Buy customer buys something from Amazon, Best Buy lost any margin they would have made. If they price match Amazon and only make three or four dollar profit instead of eight or nine, then they're still ahead of where they were. Plus, by price matching, they establish themselves as a place to go for discs and set themselves up for future business. So, instead of having to sell one disc to make eight bucks, they sell two. But, if that same customer becomes loyal to Best Buy because it's now seen as a competitor not just in name, that's a good bit of cash over the course of time. One of Best Buy's key measurements, aside from margin, is units per transaction, as well as the percentage of people who walk in the door that actually buy something (close rate). These are both positively affected by this situation.

Plus they still make their money off the people who don't know any better, or those who are content to piss their money away.

[BruceWayne]

Originally Posted by BStecke

Being cheap and being smart with your money are two totally different things. There's no sense in pissing money away when you don't have to. That's just plain stupid.

No one is getting screwed. The companies are still profiting off of this, and in the long term probably making more due to the increased volume of sales. If a potential Best Buy customer buys something from Amazon, Best Buy lost any margin they would have made. If they price match Amazon and only make three or four dollar profit instead of eight or nine, then they're still better than they were.

If he feels like pissing away money he can, I just know I won't be anytime soon

[gvortex7]

Originally Posted by BruceWayne

If he feels like pissing away money he can, I just know I won't be anytime soon

You're damn right!