Electronics Retailers Look to Offset Fraud Losses Via Outlet Stores Selling Open-Box Goods
A Best Buy Outlet store, opened recently in Houston, is the retailer's 13th, giving it a way to cut losses from product returns. At the 17713 Tomball Parkway outlet store in Houston, a shopper was able to score an 82-inch…
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Samsung TV for $1,600, a $600 discount, reported the Houston Chronicle Thursday. Best Buy's outlet store comes a month after Conn’s opened a 2,500-square-foot clearance center inside a 650,000-square-foot warehouse near George Bush Intercontinental Airport to sell refurbished and open-box products. The National Retail Federation said in January retailers report an average 11 percent of purchases are returned annually, with an average 8 percent of returns being fraudulent. It cited analytics firm Appriss figures saying U.S. retailers’ annual losses from merchandise return fraud are estimated at $18.4 billion; fraud and abuse losses combined are estimated at $24 billion. Retail loss prevention executives “are constantly looking for new ways to battle this issue,” NRF said. Best Buy has taken advantage of shuttered storefronts for outlet locations: the Houston store moved into what was previously a Golf Galaxy location, and its Chesterfield Airport Rd. location outside of St. Louis is located in a former h.h. gregg store. Best Buy advertises the outlet stores as having clearance and open-box stock of appliances, TVs and more at prices up to 50 percent off.