Best Buy takes aim at Amazon Prime with its own membership program

Enlarge / Extended warranties and unlimited tech support-including on things you didn't purchase from Best Buy in the first place-are bigger potential value-adds to Best Buy Beta than the ubiquitous free shipping. (credit: Best Buy)

Best Buy is floating a new membership program, called Best Buy Beta, in some test markets. The new program, somewhat like Walmart's Walmart+, takes aim at Amazon's immensely popular Prime membership service-but does so while focusing on Best Buy's own corporate strengths, in addition to the usual free shipping perks.

For $200 per year-or $180, for Best Buy credit card holders-Beta members get unlimited Geek Squad tech support, including extended protection (up to two years) on most purchases, free standard shipping, and free installation for most products and appliances. There's also a 24/7 "concierge" service available exclusively to Beta members by phone, chat, or email.

The details Best Buy's corporate announcement provides about the concierge service are slim, but it sounds like a sort of generic "niece or nephew who's good at technology" who can answer questions. (Nibling as a Service?)

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