Best Buy had originally instated a price-match guarantee for the holidays, a program designed to combat the practice of treating the store like a show room before completing the actual purchase online. Now, Best Buy has announced that it will make the program permanent, beginning on March 3rd. Last October, the company had said that "showrooming" was "blown out of proportion." This time around, however, Best Buy is embracing the comparison, writing in its press release that the new program signals "the end of 'showrooming.'"

As before, Best Buy won't match any online retailer's price, but instead has a list of 19 retailers it will match. Those retailers include Apple.com, Amazon.com, Crutchfield.com, and Walmart.com. The usual caveats of identically matching the product apply, and customers will need to actively ask for the price matching before purchase in order to qualify. To do so, you'll need to bring in the URL from the competing retailer and have Best Buy definitively match it to the product you want to purchase.

Update: Unfortunately it looks as though some bad will arrive alongside the good. Best Buy has announced that on the same day (March 3rd) the retailer will halve its window for returns and exchanges to 15 days — down from the longstanding 30-day period currently in place. Purchases made on or before March 2nd will still adhere to the longer returns period. Further, a Best Buy spokesperson has confirmed to The Verge that Reward Zone Silver members will remain eligible to return / exchange products for 60 days, a benefit that will become all the more appealing thanks to the shortened policy that will soon face most customers.