Best Buy rolls out new tech support membership nationally

Just in time for the holidays, Best Buy has rolled out a new $200 membership for customers across the country that will not only offer tech support and waived delivery fees but also exclusive access to some of the holiday season's hardest-to-find products.

Best Buy tested the membership with a pilot program in the Twin Cities and a few other markets. The membership program is now called the Totaltech program.

For $200 a year, members receive free 24/7 Geek Squad tech support, plus up to two years of product protection on most Best Buy purchases, free delivery and standard installation and exclusive Totaltech member prices.

This holiday season, which is expected to be plagued with supply issues, Totaltech members will receive "exclusive access to some of the season's hardest-to-find products," the company said.

One of the sales Totaltech members will have access to will be "Member Monday," a new special event that offers members exclusive deals on popular tech products. Member Monday starts Oct. 18 and will run nearly every week during the holiday season.

As part of the national rollout, Best Buy is converting 3.1 million customers that are already enrolled for its earlier tech support service to the new program.

In an earnings call with analysts in August, Best Buy leaders said the purpose of Totaltech was to build more loyalty to the Best Buy brand and, with more usage of the benefits, create more sales.

"I think it's this combination of features that ... are making our customers come to us more frequently and, like we also said, spend a bit more each time that they're coming to see us, because you have this combination that keeps customers very sticky to the Best Buy brand," said Best Buy CEO Corie Barry.