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Continued: Target's new service will zip electronic systems together

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Target has joined the ranks of major retailers now offering at-home installation services for the electronically challenged among us (or, perhaps, those who don't have teenagers around).

The service, which began Tuesday on Target.com, is offered through Zip Express Installation, a Minneapolis-based business that contracts with certified installers across the country and promises next-day set-up for those desperate to get that home theater system up and running.

Prices range from $99.99 for basic TV hook up within five days of purchase to $499.99 for next-day wall-mount service. Technicians do such things as hook up your cable, electronics networks, Nintendo Wii and DVD player to your TV, set up the universal remote, and spend 20 minutes or so coaching folks how to use it all. They also haul away the old boxes and, for a fee, will recycle old electronics.

Consumers set up their own appointments, and technicians are supposed to arrive within a one-hour window.

Installation packages are growing and lucrative add-ons for retailers, particularly as margins have shrunk on flat-panel televisions, game systems and other popular consumer electronics.

Richfield-based Best Buy Co. Inc., was the among the first and the most successful retailers to offer the service model through Geek Squad, a contractor it eventually purchased. Along with Circuit City's Firedog service, the two consumer electronics chains have about 20 percent of the $8 billion market for outsourced information technology services, according to research from the University of Arizona.

That same study estimates that the electronics service market could grow by an addition $11 billion.

Earlier this month, Wal-Mart announced a pilot program with Dell Inc., to set up kiosks called Solutions Stations at 15 Dallas-area stores offering on-the-spot tech support.

Wal-Mart's warehouse store, Sam's Club, announced it will start its own pilot program in the coming days at about 20 stores in the Washington, D.C., area through a company called Geeks on Call.

Retailers say at-home service contracts also reduce the number of returns -- many based on sheer frustration -- and minimize bad customer experiences that can lead shoppers to take future business elsewhere.

"We mitigate returns because we go in, set it up right and spend time with customers helping them understand how everything works," said Zip Express CEO Chris Mauzy, who spent 15 years at Best Buy Co. Inc. and Ultimate Electronics. He began his own company in November with another former Best Buy employee, Andy Schmidt.

Minneapolis-based Target offers Zip Express only online now, but Mazy said he "aspires to be in stores." Zip Express services also are sold on amazon.com and www.directbuy.com.

Jackie Crosby • 612-673-7335

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