Best Buy: Free Samsung Blu-ray Player With New Smartphone Purchase

14 Nov, 2011 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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No. 1 consumer electronics retailer aggressively promoting home entertainment specials entering 2011 holiday shopping season

Best Buy Co. is giving a free Internet-connected Blu-ray Disc player to consumers who purchase the Samsung Epic 4G Touch smartphone.

The Samsung BD player ($89.99 value) features CinemaNow (transactional video-on-demand) movies, Netflix streaming and Pandora music access. The Epic phone, which retails for $199.99, requires a two-year contract with Sprint Wireless.

Minneapolis-based Best Buy, which headlined the offer on the cover of its weekly newspaper circular, also will sell an Internet-connected Toshiba BD player with CinemaNow, Netflix and Pandora for $39.99 on Black Friday (Nov. 25). It is currently selling a Panasonic BD player with the aforementioned apps (plus YouTube) for $79.99.

The No. 1 CE retailer is pulling out the stops on home entertainment-related electronics entering the 2011 holiday shopping season as its big box retail footprint faces increased market challenges from Walmart and Amazon, among other sources.

Best Buy, which posted a 30% drop in earnings in its most recent fiscal period, cited the ongoing economic sluggishness and downward trend in overall CE industry sales for the downturn, underscored by a 2.8% decline in same-store sales (open at least 14 months).

Best Buy’s current third quarter fiscal period ends this month.
 

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