Bestbuy is price matching the USA

[MaDMaN_26]

http://www.bestbuy.ca/

Hopefully more follow suit.

http://www.bestbuy.ca/marketing/us_p...gon=&langid=EN

[Bobblehead]

I was in Chapters the other day. I grabbed a book and asked if they were now charging the US$ price of the C$ price. She told me they still charge the C$ price. I said I would order online instead and put the book back.

Hopefully enough people do that that the retailers get the message. I know many of these retailers are constrained by contracts, but I am not, so if they want to regain my business they will need to compete on price. I will reward local retailers with my business if there is a compelling reason, but customer service worth paying an additional 10% - 30% is rare in Calgary.

[Bertuzzied]

I was impressed until i saw this under the FAQ's. What is the point? they matched all cdn competitors price anyways before. They won't even match their own company. Actually they are NOT price matching the US at all. They are just lowering their prices which Zellers and Walmart began to do last month.

Q: Will you match the price of a product if it's lower at BestBuy.com?
A: Unfortunately, our lowest price guarantee applies only to prices advertised by other Canadian companies.

[soulchoice]

I will only support a Canadian establishment if and only if shopping with them is the same price as what I would get it for in the US. I am in the US alot, so can wait on many items.

Nowdays the only thing I buy here is neccessary items. For other products, I will always go to the lowest price and right now, it seems it is in the states.

Good attempt by Bestbuy, though I highly doubt they will ever match the prices on all products in the US.

[alltherage]

Looks like Best Buy's sister company Future Shop is moving towards this too- or at least lowering their prices.

http://www.futureshop.ca/marketing/b...ar/default.asp

[soulchoice]

Originally Posted by alltherage

Looks like Best Buy's sister company Future Shop is moving towards this too- or at least lowering their prices.

http://www.futureshop.ca/marketing/b...ar/default.asp

Yes they claim to have lowered it, but by what standards? If they have lowered it to the same price as in the US markets, or just lowered the prices slightly, that is the question.

[Neeper]

I did do some comparisons for GPS units. I saw that Best Buy.com and Best Buy.ca had the same prices on all the units. It's slowly coming around, but not soon enough if they want their holiday numbers to be strong. I have no problem at all buying stuff online. As a matter of fact, I have bought everything I need online for years now, even before our dollar was this strong. Canadian retailers need to wake up.

[MaDMaN_26]

Originally Posted by Kobatuzzied

I was impressed until i saw this under the FAQ's. What is the point? they matched all cdn competitors price anyways before. They won't even match their own company. Actually they are NOT price matching the US at all. They are just lowering their prices which Zellers and Walmart began to do last month.

Q: Will you match the price of a product if it's lower at BestBuy.com?
A: Unfortunately, our lowest price guarantee applies only to prices advertised by other Canadian companies.

How sneaky... grrr... wish I saw that.

[fredr123]

This is nice and all but I'll be impressed when our prices are LOWER than those in the USA.

[FlameCity]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

I was in Chapters the other day. I grabbed a book and asked if they were now charging the US$ price of the C$ price. She told me they still charge the C$ price. I said I would order online instead and put the book back.

Hopefully enough people do that that the retailers get the message. I know many of these retailers are constrained by contracts, but I am not, so if they want to regain my business they will need to compete on price. I will reward local retailers with my business if there is a compelling reason, but customer service worth paying an additional 10% - 30% is rare in Calgary.

I don't know about other industries but when it comes to bookstores in Canada (ie Indigo . . . and that includes the other divisions of Indigo . . . Chapters, Coles, etc) they do not set the price of books they carry. You'll notice that the prices are printed on the books. That is because the publishing company sets the prices. There is nothing that the stores can do about it (or the staff that have to hear the same comments from every customer that comes in . . . all day long) . . . they have had to purchase there stock at the Canadian rates. So if you actually want to cause some sort of change you'd be better off sending your complaints or objections to pricing policies to the Publishing Company that is responsible.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by fredr123

This is nice and all but I'll be impressed when our prices are LOWER than those in the USA.

I don't think that would happen unless every cdn couple began having 10-20 kids. Our population is miniscule compared to the US.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by FlameCity

I don't know about other industries but when it comes to bookstores in Canada (ie Indigo . . . and that includes the other divisions of Indigo . . . Chapters, Coles, etc) they do not set the price of books they carry. You'll notice that the prices are printed on the books. That is because the publishing company sets the prices. There is nothing that the stores can do about it (or the staff that have to hear the same comments from every customer that comes in . . . all day long) . . . they have had to purchase there stock at the Canadian rates. So if you actually want to cause some sort of change you'd be better off sending your complaints or objections to pricing policies to the Publishing Company that is responsible.

The bookstores can sell the books for whatever price they want. They do it all the time, look on the bargain shelves.

As a matter of fact, it is illegal for the publishers to dictate what the retailer is allowed to sell the final product at. That is called resale price maintenance. They can recommend a price (MSRP), they can print the price on the jacket, they can refuse to sell to the retailers in the future, but they cannot contractually force the retailer to sell for any specific amount. That violates the Competition Act.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by FlameCity

I don't know about other industries but when it comes to bookstores in Canada (ie Indigo . . . and that includes the other divisions of Indigo . . . Chapters, Coles, etc) they do not set the price of books they carry. You'll notice that the prices are printed on the books. That is because the publishing company sets the prices. There is nothing that the stores can do about it (or the staff that have to hear the same comments from every customer that comes in . . . all day long) . . . they have had to purchase there stock at the Canadian rates. So if you actually want to cause some sort of change you'd be better off sending your complaints or objections to pricing policies to the Publishing Company that is responsible.

If Chapters et al don't want to lose their customer base they need to adjust their prices. It's their choice.

[FlameCity]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

The bookstores can sell the books for whatever price they want. They do it all the time, look on the bargain shelves.

As a matter of fact, it is illegal for the publishers to dictate what the retailer is allowed to sell the final product at. That is called resale price maintenance. They can recommend a price (MSRP), they can print the price on the jacket, they can refuse to sell to the retailers in the future, but they cannot contractually force the retailer to sell for any specific amount. That violates the Competition Act.

Publishers sell books at a fixed discount including bargain. "Bargain" books are brought in at that price they are not discounted old stock. Discounting further on regular product would result in selling books at a loss . . . and I don't know what company likes to operate at a loss. The mark up on books is nowhere close to the markup on food, clothing, music, electronics etc. For companies like Walmart and Costco books are loss leaders put in to entice customers into their stores to buy all their regularly priced merchandise.

The point of my post was instead of harassing minimum wage workers about something that is beyond their control why not address it to some place more constructive . . . where it might actually make some sort of impact. Here's an address that you can start at: pricing@indigo.ca.

[FlameCity]

Originally Posted by Dion

If Chapters et al don't want to lose their customer base they need to adjust their prices. It's their choice.

I suppose the ultimate way to champion a strong Canadian dollar is to buy American. If customers keep supporting companies like Walmart and Costco (and that is absolutely your prerogative) you wont have to worry about a Canadian company daring to sell at Canadian prices. By all means go for it . . . bring their dollar back up!

[Dion]

Originally Posted by FlameCity

I suppose the ultimate way to champion a strong Canadian dollar is to buy American. If customers keep supporting companies like Walmart and Costco (and that is absolutely your prerogative) you wont have to worry about a Canadian company daring to sell at Canadian prices. By all means go for it . . . bring their dollar back up!

If it means getting Canadian retailers to lower their prices, then yes.

I don't shop Wallyworld.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by FlameCity

Publishers sell books at a fixed discount including bargain. "Bargain" books are brought in at that price they are not discounted old stock. Discounting further on regular product would result in selling books at a loss . . . and I don't know what company likes to operate at a loss. The mark up on books is nowhere close to the markup on food, clothing, music, electronics etc. For companies like Walmart and Costco books are loss leaders put in to entice customers into their stores to buy all their regularly priced merchandise.

The point of my post was instead of harassing minimum wage workers about something that is beyond their control why not address it to some place more constructive . . . where it might actually make some sort of impact. Here's an address that you can start at: pricing@indigo.ca.

Where did you get the "harassing minimum wage employees" part. I kne wsome places were already charging the lower price, so I asked. I'm sure Indigo looking at their sales numbers will see what is happening faster than any email would tell them.

I would rather see an Canadian retailer use the strength of the Canadian dollar to compete with these other chains. As I mentioned in my first post, I understand they may already have contracts in place. But unless the wholesalers are charging an arbitrary premium to Canadian retailers, Canadian retailers should have the ability to buy and sell for close to the same as the US. Heck, all else being equal I will go to the Canadian retailer every time. But I won't pay 30% more.

[Kipper is King]

Originally Posted by FlameCity

I don't know about other industries but when it comes to bookstores in Canada (ie Indigo . . . and that includes the other divisions of Indigo . . . Chapters, Coles, etc) they do not set the price of books they carry. You'll notice that the prices are printed on the books. That is because the publishing company sets the prices. There is nothing that the stores can do about it (or the staff that have to hear the same comments from every customer that comes in . . . all day long) . . . they have had to purchase there stock at the Canadian rates. So if you actually want to cause some sort of change you'd be better off sending your complaints or objections to pricing policies to the Publishing Company that is responsible.

You are right. Chapters/Indigo is a Canadian bookstore that buys from Canadian publishers. They do not import books from the States like those that are able to match on par are often doing. Chapters is supporting the Canadian economy that way.

Also, as you alluded to, the prices for books are established by the publishers, not the bookstores. The contracts for buying books are often established months or years in advance- back when the Canadian dollar was down.

Even now, though- you start to see an adjustment. A book that sold for $35 in store six months ago might cost $30 now.

Lastly, if you take a look at many of the bestsellers they have, you'll notice they are 30% or 40% off. This results in those books often being cheaper than the US prices.

Trust me, they are trying to be more assertive when negotiating new contacts. But they can't drive themselves out of business by dropping down to par. It's not feasible, especially without importing from the States.

[Incinerator]

For the past 6 months I have been shopping online from US retailers regularly, but I am starting to see the Cdn retailers dropping prices on smaller items, some even below what it'd cost me in the US after shipping. But the big-ticket items are still 30% or more cheaper down south with shipping included.

As for BB and FS, if you're buying things like a GPS or PS3 they're at par, but big TVs are still significantly cheaper down south with the exception of the odd home theatre package.

[FlameCity]

Originally Posted by Kipper is King

You are right. Chapters/Indigo is a Canadian bookstore that buys from Canadian publishers. They do not import books from the States like those that are able to match on par are often doing. Chapters is supporting the Canadian economy that way.

Also, as you alluded to, the prices for books are established by the publishers, not the bookstores. The contracts for buying books are often established months or years in advance- back when the Canadian dollar was down.

Even now, though- you start to see an adjustment. A book that sold for $35 in store six months ago might cost $30 now.

Lastly, if you take a look at many of the bestsellers they have, you'll notice they are 30% or 40% off. This results in those books often being cheaper than the US prices.

Trust me, they are trying to be more assertive when negotiating new contacts. But they can't drive themselves out of business by dropping down to par. It's not feasible, especially without importing from the States.

Thank you for getting it