The year 2020 was booming for Best Buy — a year that brought further affirmation of past investments in various sale and fulfillment models, along with other strategies that have made it a traditional category retailer able to compete head-to-head with Amazon and other well-heeled generalists.
Key to the retailer’s strategy is digital and omnichannel sales. Best Buy reported a 173.7% spike in online revenue in the U.S. for the third quarter. At the time CEO Corie Barry chalked a spike in comp sales up to Best Buy’s “unique capabilities” that includes a “flexible store operating model and ability to shift quickly to digital.”
On a conference call with investors, Barry said the retailer, which has boosted its starting wages to $15 an hour, has been experimenting with using stores as a fulfillment hub while deploying a “more educated workforce,” according to a Seeking Alpha transcript. The latter means a single employee might try to provide customer service across the entire store, rather than focusing expertise and work hours around a topic area, as Best Buy’s staff have in the past.
Source: Retail Dive
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