The reason, according to Mike Vitelli, enterprise executive vice president and president, Americas for Best Buy, is that consumers using smartphones and other technology are able to comparison shop and are unwilling to wait for a sale to come around. Having low every day prices means (hopefully) fewer consumers will take their business to the competition, which ranges from Amazon to hhgregg to Walmart.
Best Buy has made recent changes, such as dropping fees on returns to retain a higher percentage of its shoppers. It also launched its new product buyback program to help make it easier for consumers to upgrade to new technologies.
Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, questioned Best Buy's move to EDLP.
"Wal-Mart makes up for everyday low pricing in volume," Mr. Pachter told Bloomberg. "Best Buy doesn't have the traffic, so it doesn't make sense for them. They're losing better-informed customers who are more savvy about alternative places to buy the same product."
Best Buy management believes it has trained consumers to wait for sales before deciding to purchase. Moving to EDLP, the company believes, will change that mindset.