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Report: Amazon and Walmart Take Bites Out of Best Buy
Best Buy announced solid performance for the fiscal month of December ended January 2, 2010 — 13 percent overall growth and 8.2 percent comparable store sales increase. Retrevo’s survey, however, shows a shift in consumer perception that threatens to shrink Best Buy’s market share.
The beneficiaries appear to be Amazon and Walmart.
Amazon Grows Electronics Brand
Retrevo asked consumers which retailer — Best Buy, Amazon or Walmart — comes to mind first when it came to buying electronics during the 2009 holiday season. Best Buy leads with 40 percent, but that’s down 4 percent from the previous year.
Meanwhile, Amazon grew 4 percent and edged out Walmart, which dropped a percentage point. Walmart’s drop comes despite an aggressive effort to ramp up its electronics reputation during 2009.
When you think about buying electronics, who comes to mind first?
Walmart Still Considered Cheapest
Best Buy has hinted that it needs to establish itself as a specialty retailer to avoid battling Walmart directly on prices. It may be on to something, since only 25 percent of respondents say Best Buy had the lowest prices on electronics during the 2009 holiday season.
Walmart led the pack with 42 percent.
Who, among these resellers, did you think had the lowest prices on electronics this holiday season?
Best Buy’s Selection Deemed Best
Of the respondents’ three choices — Best Buy, Walmart and Amazon — Best Buy is the only retailer that primarily sells electronics. It’s logical, therefore, that it was chosen as the one with the best electronics selection.
However, Best Buy's 44 percent barely edges Amazon’s 41 percent.
Walmart, which says it expanded its electronics selection during 2009, finished a distant third with 15 percent.
Who, among these resellers, did you think had the best selection of electronics this holiday season?
Watch Out for Walmart
It wasn’t all bad news for Walmart. Its efforts to build its electronics brand paid off, according to Retrevo’s study. Looking at where consumers said they bought electronics during the 2009 holiday season compared with the 2008 season, Walmart picked up 4 points of market share (actual products purchased) in both the under-$200 and over-$200 electronics categories.
Both Best Buy and Amazon lost share in 2009 versus 2008 holiday season.
Did you buy any consumer electronics under $200 at the following resellers?
Did you buy any consumer electronics over $200 at the following resellers?
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Article Topics
News · Research · Big-Box Retailers · Big-box Retailers · Best Buy · Circuit City · Walmart · Amazon · Research ·About the Author
5 Comments
Hey Tom,
You might want to do a better job of proof reading your stuff before posting.
For example, “electronics retailers have been trying to nimble at its market share.” I think the word you’re looking for is “nibble.”
This kind of error, in my mind, doesn’t exactly enhance your credibility as a serious journalist.
I’m going to have to agree with Mr.Wilson. Using an M instead of a B just doesn’t sit right with me. At first i wasn’t going to say anything because i thought others would think its petty and strange of me to even notice something like that. But now that i see i am not the only one i am letting my voice be heard.
[above sarcasm brought to you by insomnia and way to many sugary drinks]
Typo fixed
Call me nostalgic but I really miss that typo, now that it’s gone. Note also that B does not occur in the name “WalMart” and that M does not occur in the name “Best Buy”. Coincidence? I think not!
The writing has been on the walls for several years now. BestBuy’s move more boxes business model is working against them via online sales from amazon and similar sites. Most of the online companies have no B&M overhead. Walmart pushing full steam ahead in “gadget” and cheap TV’s is cutting into their walk in traffic.
Best Buys only shot is to continue growing the geek squad and attempt to position themselves as the new low/mid level service gurus. Most people cant remove a virus from their PC and they dont know anyone who can do it for them. Most people cant plug in a TV themselves. This is great news for BestBuy’s geek squad.
But its bad news for the CI’s who are working the entry level market. These CI’s need to up their skills/offerings or they will find themselves competing directly with BestBuys couple hundred dollar installation.