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Best Buy for the holiday season is introducing Best Buy Drops, offering consumers limited-time deals on electronic gadgets accessible from their mobile phones.
“This holiday season, Best Buy Drops is giving customers the opportunity to get their hands on exciting product releases, limited runs, launches and serious savings — all in real time,” Best Buy said in a press release. “But you’ll need to act fast because each Drop is only available in limited quantities and exclusively through the Best Buy App.”
After downloading the Best Buy app and finding the Drop section, consumers will find a preview of product releases or deals landing within the next week. If they opt-in to Drop Alerts on an item, a push notification will arrive shortly before the drops they’re interested in go live. They’ll have to be prepared to make a purchase at that time before inventories run out.
My Best Buy Plus and My Best Buy Total members earn “even deeper discounts” on select drops.
The drops will range across items, including gaming consoles and accessories, e-transportation products, wearable devices, smart home devices, small appliances, and toys. Multiple drops will arrive nearly every week over the holiday season.
“Drops” reference the broader “drop culture” fashion trend, which uses a scarcity model to stoke demand. The trend was catalyzed by Nike’s introduction of the Air Jordan in the mid-80s and the U.S. skatewear brand Supreme’s collaborations with other brands on limited, timed releases. Hyped on social media and streetwear blogs, releases from brands like these often sell out immediately and appear later on eBay at much higher prices.
Drops have become more common in recent years, with buzz around limited-edition sneakers, apparel, and jewelry, often in collaboration with designers. Fast-food chains now commonly release or bring back items for a limited time as well.
Best Buy Drops appears to work similarly to Amazon’s Lightning Deal promotion, which offers a limited number of discounts to Prime members on certain items for a short period. Lightning Deals are available on Amazon’s Today's Deals page or around its Prime Day events.
On its second-quarter analyst call this year, Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said the consumer electronics chain was testing different promotional offers in anticipation that holiday shoppers will be looking for savings.
"Our hypothesis regarding the holiday season is that the consumer largely returns to pre-pandemic behavior," said Barry. "By this, we mean that they will be looking for great deals and convenience and traffic will be weighted toward promotional events."