Best Buy is expected to announce a movie download service available for consumer electronic products sold in its stores. There isn’t a name for the service yet, but the announcement is due tomorrow and should be making some waves among retailers looking for a way to keep up with the giant.
Best Buy has said that it expects the service to be up and running in the fourth quarter of 2009, which means that the debut for it could happen anytime now. The software and service will be coming from Sonic Solutions’ Roxio CinemaNow service, which has more than 20,000 film titles.
The software will be available on Best Buy’s own Insignia brand of products, but Best Buy is hoping to court the availability of other major consumer electronics companies in hopes of advancing the service to some of the bigger name items.
This is all a part of the Best Buy strategy to ensure that consumers don’t simply have a television or piece of consumer electronics to purchase but that they have an entire relationship with Best Buy. “We want to make sure it’s difficult to walk out of a Best Buy store without a device that has our movie technology embedded on it,” said Ryan Pirozzi, director of digital video for Best Buy.
With movie technology embedded on a television or device, Best Buy can continue the relationship with the consumer long after he or she has walked out of the store. And for a major retailer like Best Buy, that’s good news because it means the potential for return and repeat business is high.
