Best Buy Pulls Plug on Third-Party Marketplace
Best Buy has discontinued its online Marketplace after five years of operation, citing product overlap, customer confusion, and minimal revenue contribution.
By RS Staff
Published: February 25, 2016 ⋅ Updated: April 15, 2019
Best Buy has discontinued its online Marketplace after five years of operation, citing product overlap, customer confusion, and minimal revenue contribution.
In an email to its approximately 100 third-party sellers obtained by TWICE, Best Buy e-commerce president Mary Lou Kelley said the platform would be shut and all listings removed effective Feb. 24. “We believe we can continue to provide a positive customer experience on our site through other product sourcing methods,” she wrote.
Best Buy spokesman Jeff Haydock told TWICE that the Marketplace accounted for only “a tiny fraction of 1 percent of domestic revenue,” and created confusion among some consumers who believed they could return third-party merchandise to the chain’s stores.
There was also a 70-percent overlap in Marketplace items, he said, and “we want to provide a curated list of products we sell.”
This story appeared originally in sister publication, TWICE. Click here to read the story in full.