Best Buy Targets Big Spenders, Launches Video Service

November 2007 By Stephen Silver

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Best Buy’s retail strategy for the holidays resembles the sort often pursued by high-end department stores, rather than big box chains. According to the Wall Street Journal, the retail giant will offer both giveaways and big sales as a reward to its highest-spending customers, who are members of its Reward Zone program.

The initiative will entail sending invitations to “best customers” who are members of the program, letting them know about special retail events being held at 150 Best Buy locations throughout North America. At the events, drawings will be held for prizes, with both discounts and double reward points available at the event only.

Best Buy’s strategy differs from Wal*Mart and other chains, which have focused more on cutting the prices of more popular, lower-end items.

The company also recently unveiled a video sharing and storage service, Best Buy Video Sharing, as part of an agreement with hosting company Mydeo. The new online service plans begin at $6.97 for 100 minutes of video hosting and video lengths up to 30 minutes each. The service allows customers to upload personal videos and share them online.

Best Buy also acquired a small stake in Mydeo, which streams video for home and business, for an undisclosed sum.

The video sharing service is just the latest Best Buy effort at content distribution. Earlier this year, the electronics retailer announced the Best Buy Photo Center, a service in partnership with Kodak letting consumers store and share images. In 2006, Best Buy launched a digital music store.