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Best Buy Sees Retail in Hospitals

Written by RetailWire Staff
By Bernice Hurst, Contributing Editor, RetailWire

Flower shops, coffee shops and other places to buy books, magazines and gifts are ubiquitous in hospitals. What is there to add?

Best Buy sees room for cell phone chargers, digital cameras, data cards, sound-canceling earphones, small TVs, DVD players and at least a few other items. As a result, the electronics retailer has negotiated a sales area in the gift shop of Memorial Hospital in South Bend, IN.

Under the partnership, Best Buy will supply a selection of products for sale within the gift shop and the hospital will retain a percentage of the revenue generated. Best Buy's first-ever Quick Picks display features a mix similar to many of the vending machines it is featuring in airports for travelers, although they're aimed at patients, visitors and staff.

Diane Stover, the hospital's vice president, thinks the new link-up means differentiation.

"Life doesn't stop for any of us when a loved one is in the hospital, and as our world becomes more electronically connected, patients and visitors are often in need of items to help them stay connected," said Ms. Stover in a statement from Memorial Hospital. "We developed this project prototype as a way to make it convenient for visitors, staff and patients to get things they need. This new model helps to enhance the overall experience and generate new revenue for our organization."

Joe Weiss, Best Buy account manager for Indiana, added in the statement, "When Memorial suggested the idea we thought it had merit. We hope this test will lead to a nation-wide program that will help make things a bit easier for families with loved ones in the hospital."

But two newspapers in Britain spotted one potential downside. Reporters found that both Marks & Spencer and WH Smith charge more in hospital stores than for identical items purchased in the high street. The Daily Mirror sent reporters to Marks & Spencer's outlets in May 2010 but The Daily Mail did its WH Smith price check way back in January 2009. It can only be hoped that the convenience upside offered by Memorial and Best Buy are priced at a downside-avoiding level.

Discussion Questions: How would you rate the retail opportunity for consumer electronics at hospitals? What other retail opportunities may be missing from hospitals?

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