Undercover Shopping: Testing Holiday Promises
By: Every year it seems the holiday season gets more competitive for retailers. First it was free shipping, now it's free layaway and price-matching in guaranteed, speedy in-store pickup.
Promises, promises. But do the programs really work?
CNBC producers and I went shopping undercover so we wouldn't get any special treatment.
Many retailers say they'll match their competitor's prices, but there are certainly exclusions and nuances from retailer to retailer.
We chose the Sony WiFi Built-in Blu-ray Disc Player BDP-S390 for our mission, and three major retailers: Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart Stores .
A little online research showed Target pricing the DVD player at $139.99. Wal-Mart's selling the same one for $129 dollars on its website. Best Buy offers a "special price" that you can only see at check out. It turned out to be the cheapest at $108.99.
(Read More: Will Electronic Device Sales Light up the Holidays?)
Both Wal-Mart and Target have price-matching policies posted online, and Best Buy also has a holiday price-matching program, but since it has the lowest price we didn't need to test it there.
Armed with a print out of the Best Buy deal, we made a stop at a Walmart store. There, the Blu Ray DVD player had a list price of $138, despite the fact that it was listed on the store's website for $129.
At first, an associate said he wasn't sure he could match Best Buy's price because it was from the web. However, after a discussion with a manager, it is decided Walmart will indeed match the price.
(Read More: Gift Ideas for Everyone on Your List.)
When I went to buy the Blu Ray player, a scan of the barcode revealed the price had been reduced to $98, much to our surprise. So in the end, the price-match wasn't necessary.
We then hit a Target store. Once again, the employee said he wasn't sure he could match an online deal. But after a little pushing, and a radio call to a manager, he did match the price.
We learned some lessons from our price-matching experiment. First, make sure you've done the research yourself, and have the print out—either from the web or physical advertisement—with you and make sure it has a date.
Second, if the associate isn't sure, or says no, push to speak with a manager. Some retailers will match online prices, some will only match brick and mortar competitors, and some will not match at all, but it's worth asking.
Our next test was in-store pickup.
