Best Buy will match internet prices this holiday to combat ‘showrooming’

Best Buy will price-match its products against those of online retailers like Amazon this holiday. According to The Wall Street Journal, the move is intended to halt the rising trend of “showrooming” — getting a feel for hardware before buying it online. Best Buy says that the percentage of visitors that use its stores as showrooms before searching out the best deal on the internet is now in the mid teens, up a couple of percent from last year.

The company says that showrooming has been “blown out of proportion” — some 40 percent of visitors leave its stores with a product — but admits that “we need to pay attention to it.” According to WSJ’s sources, Best Buy will also start offering free home delivery on out-of-stock products as a further incentive to keep its customers loyal.