Best Buy has partnered up with smart-home systems provider Vivint to up its stake in the connected space.
Beginning this summer, Best Buy customers across the country will be able to tap into Vivint’s menu of smart-home products, systems and services, including Vivint-branded thermostats, cameras and doorbells, and installation, security monitoring and tech-support.
Vivint also employs brand-name products including Nest thermostats and Kwikset locks, and primarily leverages Amazon’s Alexa AI platform to control its home automation systems along with a single proprietary app.
Packages begin at $700, or can be custom-configured with or without a service subscription, and Best Buy is offering 36-month financing on purchases of $999 and higher. Service plans cost $39 or $49 per month.
The program, formally dubbed Best Buy Smart Home powered by Vivint, went live at 23 test stores in Detroit and San Antonio late last year, and will be rolled out to more than 400 stores this summer.
According to a Best Buy spokesperson, in-store smart-home sections will be manned by specially trained Blue Shirts who can assess customers’ home-automation needs and determine whether their requirements warrant outsourcing to Vivint.
The retailer will also tap its in-house Geek Squad services unit to share in the installation and set-up of Vivint systems sold through Best Buy, the spokesperson said.
The new pact ups Best Buy’s participation in the home automation business, which it staked out more than two years ago with the in-store rollout of connected-home sections, and sweetens the pot with the added benefit of a recurring revenue element.
The retailer said it sold more than 55 million connected devices last year.
In a statement, Best Buy’s chief strategic growth officer Asheesh Saksena said the Vivint partnership is a perfect example of the retailer’s strategy of working with leading industry partners “to curate the best products, services and solutions that address the everyday needs of our customers.”
Vivint president Alex Dunn noted that delivering smart home for the mass market had been an early goal for the company, and that “together with Best Buy, we are further encouraging adoption by providing customers with a comprehensive smart-home offering and a personalized retail experience.”
Vivint was recently named the No. 1 smart-home service provider in the U.S. by Strategy Analytics, ahead of ADT, AT&T and Comcast with some 737,000 subscribers.
Related:Vivint CEO Todd Pedersen Apears on “Undercover Boss”
