Best Buy is offering free next-day delivery for the holidays as the battle for fast shipping heats up

Advertisement
Best Buy is offering free next-day delivery for the holidays as the battle for fast shipping heats up

Best buy

AP/Sue Ogrocki

Best Buy is offering next-day delivery for the holiday season.

Advertisement
  • Best Buy is offering free next-day delivery on thousands of products in time for the holidays, the company announced on Tuesday.
  • The electronics retailer is following the lead of other companies like Amazon and Walmart, which this year introduced next-day delivery programs in the race for short fulfillment times.
  • Analysts warned in September that Best Buy's aging customer base could "die out" and be replaced by younger, tech-savvy shoppers. As the competition for online shopping intensifies, Best Buy's foray into next-day delivery could represent a shift toward catering to a younger, tech-savvy consumer base that is more inclined to shop online.
  • "We want to help our customers get their orders even faster, especially in time for the holiday shopping season," a representative from Best Buy said in an emailed statement. "We've made significant investments in our supply chain over the past few years, so we can get our customers their orders even faster."
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Best Buy has followed Amazon and Walmart into the delivery race this holiday season.

The electronics retailer will offer free next-day delivery for thousands of items in multiple markets on orders of $35 or more, the company announced in a press release on Tuesday. It added that 99% of Best Buy customers would have access to the delivery option.

Customers in 42 US cities will also have access to same-day delivery for orders placed before 3 p.m. local time, the company said.

The announcement comes with the holiday season around the corner and amid a race among retailers to win over deal-hungry shoppers.

Advertisement

Read more: I ordered the same items from Amazon and Walmart to see which would do one-day shipping better - but both had issues

"We want to help our customers get their orders even faster, especially in time for the holiday shopping season," a representative from Best Buy said in an emailed statement. "We've made significant investments in our supply chain over the past few years, so we can get our customers their orders even faster."

The representative said that Best Buy has added new e-commerce distribution centers in the Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago metro areas, which have helped reduce fulfillment time.

"In addition, we have expanded the number of carriers we use to deliver packages, providing us with more options for how to get orders to customers as quickly as possible," the representative said.

Best Buy said in September that it would make a massive bet on the aging population of the US by introducing a slew of health services and devices. Wedbush analysts warned shortly after that the company's aging customer base "will die out" and younger consumers will likely shop elsewhere.

Advertisement

Read more: Companies like Walmart, CVS, and Amazon are beefing up their healthcare strategies. Here are their plans to upend the $3.5 trillion industry.

As the competition for online shopping intensifies, Best Buy's foray into next-day delivery could represent a shift toward catering to a younger, tech-savvy consumer base that is more inclined to shop online.

"Like everything at Best Buy, it always starts with the customer," Chief Supply Chain Officer Rob Bass said at an investor meeting in September. "Our customers want and deserve convenient, fast options to receive our great products - and they want it on their terms."

Walmart launched a free next-day delivery option in May, less than three weeks after Amazon said it would cut its Prime program's default shipping speed to one day.

Best Buy will offer free standard shipping all season for items in markets where next-day delivery isn't available.

Advertisement

Exclusive FREE Slide Deck: 40 Big Tech Predictions for 2019 by Business Insider Intelligence

{{}}