Best Buy has unveiled exclusive product deals in the past couple of weeks in notebook computers, HD Radio, home speakers and portable navigation devices (PNDs).
But Best Buy told TWICE that these introductions are not part of a more aggressive plan to carry more exclusive products as the holiday season approaches.
The Blue Label series, launched last week, is a line of consumer electronic products developed exclusively for Best Buy based on customer feedback. The company said it worked with its manufacturing partners to ensure it would produce products to meet customer needs.
The line kicked off with the introduction of two notebooks, one from Toshiba and one from Hewlett-Packard, that are available exclusively through Best Buy. The company said it also has plans to expand the series into other product categories down the line. (Visit TWICE.com to learn more about the products included in the program.)
Beyond Blue Label, other recent exclusive introductions include a five-model Icon V Series of speakers from Klipsch, and the addition of HD Radios and PNDs to the retailer’s in-house Insignia brand. (See pg. 39 and visit TWICE.com to learn more about the latest Insignia additions.)
“We have always been interested in leveraging our knowledge of our customers and bringing forth products that they would be interested in,” the spokesperson said. “That is not new. It has always been our strategy to some degree.”
David Strasser, a retail analyst with Banc of America Securities, agreed. He shared the feeling that the majority of the retailer’s recent introductions were not particularly out of the ordinary.
Strasser also said he thought the program was notable because “they’re trying to close a customer-feedback loop.”
