Best Buy shines a spotlight on the smart home
Best Buy stores are ramping up their smart-home efforts with brand-new in-store sections specifically for Nest, Belkin WeMo and other connected household devices.
Best Buy already sells a bunch of smart-home products, but it decided to make things even easier on us with brand-new Connected Home departments. These new store sections will start popping up around Thanksgiving -- roughly 400 stores will receive the first round of makeovers. And they will be complete with blue-shirted experts, on call to answer your most pressing smart-home questions.
Best Buy points to the increasing demand for connected-home gadgets as its reasoning behind this push. Smart-home gadgets won't just be more prominently displayed, though. The new sections will supposedly be more heavily stocked, too. They're expected to have more than 100 different products to choose from, ranging from one-off DIY gizmos to fee-based systems that require professional installation.
Since the smart home can vary widely, the Connected Home department will have different areas of focus. Its baseline is "home networking solutions." These products are prerequisites to having any type of connected home. That's your phone, gaming console, router, range extender -- all the essentials.
Then, you can start delving into actual smart-home products. Best Buy will showcase a lot of different brands from the well-known -- Honeywell , Nest and Belkin WeMo -- to the slightly more obscure -- Rachio , Chamberlain and more. Typically DIY in nature, some of these products will have optional monthly fees, but no required dealer installation or contract commitment.
"Home connections services" rounds out Best Buy's Connected Home categories. This is where you can learn more about your internet, TV and phone provider options and chat with staff to figure out if Comcast, DirecTV, Time Warner or something else makes the most sense for you. You'll also be able to learn about home security systems like ADT, should a more professional solution strike your fancy.
These new departments haven't hit stores just yet, but Best Buy has launched a Connected Home landing page online to excite your anticipation in the meantime.