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Business: Retailing and Low Price Guarantee

Good Essays

Go to www.bestbuy.com, click on the investor relations section (i.e., Four Our Investors), and explore Best Buy’s latest annual reports and 10-K (SEC) filings to see if you can identify the key elements of Bust Buy’s strategy.

Provide an overview of Best Buy and use the framework provided in Figure 1.1 to help identify the key elements of Best Buy 's strategy.

One of the key element of Best Buy’s success is its competitive advantage. Competitive advantage as stated by Thompson et al. (2012) is the “ability to meet customers needs more effectively, with products or services that customers value more highly, or more efficiently, at lower cost; (p. 6). Best Buy has always taken an innovative approach to retailing. The company is …show more content…

But Best Buy’s list of qualifying competitors, including 19 websites in price matching policy. So even if a customer can’t count on their deals being the best tomorrow, they will have a better chance at Best Buy of getting the best price today.

Is the strategy resulting in better company performance?
The price matching policy was made permanent in March of 2013, so it is hard to say how the company is doing within a few short months in regard to this pricing policy. Best Buy business model is particularly vulnerable to online shopping. The easy availability of technology and electronics products online has already led to the downfall of competitors like Circuit City and CompUSA. Most products available at Best Buy are easily available from other retailers, and while some consumers may need hands on assistance in making purchases, many do not and will take their business elsewhere if they can find a better deal. In my opinion it would be hard for Best Buy create this policy especially going up against giant retailers such as Amazon, where their operation cost is much lower than that of Best Buy and radically Amazon is more of a diverse business. With its low earnings it seem like Best Buy doesn’t have a lot of room to maneuver, and this pricing policy can’t be sustained over the long run.

Thompson, A. A., Peteraf, M. A., Gamble, J. E., & Strickland III, A. (2012). Crafting and executing strategy the quest for competitive advantage concepts

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