Best Buy Canada Offers Boxing Day Fun Facts

Retailer prepares for hundreds of thousands of shoppers in-store and millions online

BURNABY, BC, Dec. 24 /CNW/ - As Canadians prepare to gather with friends and family this Holiday Season, Best Buy, Canada's fastest growing technology retailer and e-tailer, is getting ready for its most anticipated sales day in Canada - Boxing Day. While many are familiar with the retailer's Boxing Day phenomenon, here are a few little known facts that may help Canadians as they brave the cold and the crowds the day after Christmas.

Store Traffic and Line-Ups

• On average, the line-up outside the store starts about three hours before the doors open, to-date the earliest line-up ever at a Best Buy in Canada started at 8 p.m. on Christmas Night!
• Last year 37,000 people lined up at Best Buy's 70 stores across Canada before the doors opened, an average of almost 530 people per store
• The longest line-up in the history of Best Buy in Canada was 2,100 people in Montreal, QC
• Nearly one in three Canadians will visit a Best Buy over the course of the Holiday months (November and December) - a total of 9.5 million people

Online Traffic

• Best Buy anticipates having more than 2.5 million visits on BestBuy.ca between December 24^th and December 27^th. This means more than one out of 15 Canadians will visit the website over the course of four days, an average of 625,000 per day
• Over the course of the Holiday months, BestBuy.ca transacts more than 5,000 orders every single day
• BestBuy.ca warehouses will ship more than 500,000 items during the Boxing Week period
• This year, Best Buy is offering new free shipping on orders over $20

Hot Products

• Boxing Day Blow Out?  Best Buy anticipates selling up to 300,000 video games between Boxing Day and New Year's Day. That's approximately one video game for every person Victoria, BC; or Halifax, NS

Geek Squad Support      

• Geek Squad will receive 20 times more calls for all Geek services (in-home, in-store, and online) during the Boxing Week period

Customer Service

• In the month of December, Best Buy will answer 53,000 calls and spend approximately 280,000 minutes - the equivalent of 6.5 MONTHS - on the phones with Best Buy customers
• Best Buy has approximately 380 customer service agents taking our customer's calls 24/7

About Best Buy Canada

Best Buy stores in Canada are a division of Burnaby, BC-based Best Buy Canada Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY). Best Buy is Canada's fastest-growing retailer and e-tailer (www.BestBuy.ca) of consumer electronics, computers and entertainment products and also operates Geek Squad (www.GeekSquad.ca), a technology service provider specializing in computer support, home theatre installation, network, car audio, video and navigation systems. There are more than 70 Best Buy stores in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

Best Buy offers consumers a unique shopping experience with the latest technology and entertainment products, at the right price, with a no-pressure (non-commissioned) sales environment. The Company is committed to kids and its local communities and has a comprehensive community relations program described at www.BestBuy.ca/community.

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