Personal Finance News
Best Buy Launches Amazon Prime-esque Membership Plans
Ahead of its annual Fourth of July sale, Best Buy has launched its new My Best Buy memberships.
About the plans:
This week, retailer Best Buy announced the debut of a tiered membership rewards program. First, the free tier of My Best Buy will remain. Those who sign-up (as well as existing members) will enjoy free shipping with no minimum purchase.
Next, the retail chain is introducing My Best Buy Plus. This new membership tier will come at a cost of $49.99 per year and includes free 2-day shipping. Additionally, My Best Buy Plus members will have exclusive access to sales, events, and products as well as get special members-only pricing.
Finally, My Best Buy Total replaces the former Best Buy Totaltech membership. This $179.99 tier includes the same perks as My Best Buy Plus but also adds 24/7 Geek Squad tech support, up to two years of product protection (including AppleCare+) on most new Best Buy purchases, and more.
As mentioned, the launch of this tiered membership arrives as Best Buy is gearing up for its Fourth of July sale. On that note, the retailer says that My Best Buy Plus and Total members will have access to exclusive offers and deeper discounts during the sale. For example, starting June 30th, these upper-tier members can save $100 on select iPad Air models, save an extra $50 (for a total of $300) on an HP 5 gaming laptop, and/or save an additional $30 (for total savings of $730) on an LG OLED 48A2PUA among other deals.
What they’re saying:
Announcing the new plans, Best Buy’s SVP of Memberships Patrick McGinnis said, “These three tiers create a powerful membership experience for our customers. We took what our customers told us they value most with their technology and membership, which includes perks like exclusive access to deals and member-only prices, and used it to shape our three tiers with great benefits and more flexibility.”
My thoughts:
Best Buy’s memberships rollout also comes ahead of the next Amazon Prime Day, which will take place on July 11th and 12th in the United States. While Best Buy’s offers don’t perfectly resemble Amazon’s famous Prime subscriptions, the two-day shipping aspect of My Best Buy Plus is sure to draw comparisons — namely from me, right now. Of course, while Best Buy’s Plus offering is far less than the current $139 per year cost for Prime, the selection is also more limited and (at last check) Best Buy doesn’t have a streaming service that it bundles with its memberships.
All in all, it’s hard to say how appealing the Plus and Total memberships will be to the everyday consumer. Furthermore, it will be interesting to see whether the members-exclusive offers are really as generous as they sound or whether the retailer will simply curb their general sales pricing in order to give members more. Surely we’ll find out soon enough as the program has time to roll out.
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