You Better Watch Out, Best Buy, Walmart Is Coming to Town
Written by Elaine Warner (contact - e-mail) -- December 19th, 2008 |
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Recession doesn’t seem to be having much of an impact on the market for high-end TVs. According to a recent survey by Consumer Reports, 23% of respondents said they plan to purchase an LCD or plasma TV this holiday season.
It’s likely that some of the demand for these HDTVs is driven by the good deals right now. Price-conscious consumers may not be changing what they’re shopping for, but they may be changing where they shop.
When you think of electronics stores, Best Buy probably comes to mind. And when you think of low-price retailers, you probably think of Walmart. Now that times are tough, it looks like consumers are connecting the dots between the two and spending more time and attention shopping for CE products at Walmart.com
While interest in TVs at Best Buy (measured by unique visitor traffic to TV product detail pages) has increased just 10% over the past year, interest in TVs at Walmart has surged 123% to slightly overtake Best Buy. To make matters worse for Best Buy, the number of people that visit BOTH Best Buy and Walmart to shop for TVs increased by 74% over the past year.
Walmart is also gaining ground on Best Buy in terms of search activity. In November 2008, 2.7% of searches for TVs resulted in a click-through to Walmart.com, up from 1.7% a year earlier. In contrast, Best Buy’s share dropped from 2.5% to 1.8% in the same time period.
Will Walmart drive Best Buy out of the TV retailing business? Probably not, but consumers’ decreasing brand loyalty and increasing price consciousness should be a cause for concern. Only a better understanding of consumers’ increasingly sophisticated shopping behavior can keep marketers ahead of the game, allowing them to give consumers the products and shopping experience they want. Now that’s a present I’m sure everyone would like under the tree this year.
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December 19th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Doesn’t surprise me, Best Buy figures right now are seriously down.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:34 am
Its Wal-mart’s time now, with price being the over-riding factor affecting purchase decisions. But even so, a 123% surge is stunning. That can’t be attributed just to teh recession and Best Buy losing a share of the market. Wal-mart must be doing something right.
December 27th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
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December 31st, 2008 at 11:42 am
Quality over pice will rear its head over time and customers will be back at Best Buy once again.
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January 3rd, 2009 at 10:23 pm
As a consumer I will say this, Walmart pricing does seem to be cheaper however it is true that you pay for what you get. One of the things I have experienced with Best Buy is that they are always willing to match any local competitors price including Walmart. At Walmart you can never get any help and I most definately don’t want the employee that is trained on selling tomatoes to be selling me a TV. I will remain loyal to Best Buy and shop with confidence that I am getting a good quality product and service from knowledgable employees. In closing I would like to state, If you have a problem with your vehicle you don’t just take it anywhere, you take it to a specialist. Think about that.
January 31st, 2009 at 1:32 pm
I shop at both retailers regularly, but I have been in the market for a TV recently. Less than 25% of the TV’s walmart carries are carried at BestBuy. Many of the Same brands are carried but check your model numbers, and specs. It seems Walmart’s low prices come with a guarantee for low quality. No not every consumer is looking for the newest and best, but at Best Buy even the Lower end product is the higher end walmart product. All I am saying is do your research.
As for cables for the TV, be very very careful. Though you may think a $20.00 HDMI cable is the same is a $100.00. They aren’t check for Bandwidth of the cable, guarentees on 1080p and 120hz. I have seen the differences in Cables at Best Buy from there store brand Rocketfish, to Monster Cables. The difference is huge. Try to find someone at Walmart to show you the difference between there cables. Ha try to find someone at Walmart for that matter.
April 8th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
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