You're basically saving no money buying that big flat-screen TV on Amazon
Here's something many people agree on: Things are cheaper on Amazon.
If you're looking to get a big flat-screen TV, though, you're probably going to get the same deal at Best Buy as you will online at Amazon.
In a note to clients on Monday, analysts at Deutsche Bank looked at the price gap between Amazon and Best Buy for TVs 46 inches and larger, finding that Amazon's prices were just 0.6% lower than Best Buy last month.
Overall, prices for TVs were up pretty solidly in the last year, with price-per-inch rising 25% over the prior year, which Deutsche Bank sees as being due to increased demand for smart TVs.
And so while going to Best Buy to stare at a wall of 30 amazing, too-large TVs is sort of a foundational American experience ("$999 for a 60-inch HD TV with Netflix built-in? Not a bad deal!"), at this point many consumers have been conditioned to assume that while it's less fun, stuff is simply cheaper on Amazon.
And for the most part, that's true. Deutsche Bank found that electronic accessories - including things like HDMI cables, adapters, and remotes - were 5.4% cheaper at Amazon than at Best Buy, though this gap had tightened from 8.6% the prior month.
But if you're in the market for a big TV, go ahead and drive over to Best Buy to stare at that imposing wall of choices. At least you know now that it's not a bad deal.
