Why Best Buy Should Love and Embrace Amazon.com

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Amazon.com (AMZN) Locker. It's a simple concept: You order an eligible item on Amazon.com, select the Amazon Locker option (where available) at checkout, choose from same-day (in select areas), one-day, two-day, standard or super-saver shipping, find your nearest locker location and pick up your goods from a physical location.

As it stands, quite a few restrictions exist. Chances are, unless you're conveniently situated in a city such as New York, Los Angeles or Seattle, you will not even be able to access Amazon Locker. As Amazon continues to spend billions to build out its business, particularly fulfillment, expect that to change. Locker could end up a game changer.

Just last week (or was it the week before?) Best Buy (BBY) announced it had made its online price matching policy permanent. This obvious move triggered a round of applause from large numbers of folks who look in front of them and only see the obvious.

Yet again, Best Buy did what everybody expects. For this -- and other related and semi-related reasons -- it will continue to fail.

As I reported late last year, Best Buy employees repeatedly suggested (and I presume still suggest) partnership with Amazon, but management promptly shot this down. In fact, there's, at the very least, an unwritten edict expressly against this type of collaboration.

But why?

Seems to me Best Buy executives should do everything they can to form a meaningful relationship with Amazon.

Maybe Jeff Bezos would have no part of it, but I doubt that. He's not a close-minded guy. It seems like a no-brainer for Best Buy. You know you can't beat Amazon so find a way to kind of, sort of join them. Amazon Locker provides the ideal conduit.

During my last trip to Manhattan, I spotted an Amazon Locker at a 7-Eleven convenience store. You can't miss the thing. It's huge.

If I lived near that 7-Eleven, there's more than a half a chance I would have noted the existence of an Amazon Locker and used it. If I had one within walking distance of me here in Santa Monica, same thing. As far as I know, they only exist in Los Angeles, which is a drive (or bike ride) away.

1 2 Next › Last »