Best Buy

Although up against a soft comparative from the prior year, it is fair to say that Best Buy has produced a very robust set of second quarter numbers. The 4.9% increase in domestic sales underlines that the company is more than holding its own in the electricals market and should put pay to the oft repeated fiction that retailers of its ilk will struggle to survive in the era of Amazon.  

Best Buy reported better-than-expected profit and sales for its second quarter amid growth for smartphones, connected home and wearable devices. But the retailer added a slight caveat going forward.   Best Buy's same-store sales rose 5.2% in the quarter ended July 29, easily topping analysts’ estimates for a 2.1% gain. But on the chain's quarterly call with analysts, CEO Hubert Joly said that he did not think that the mid-single-digit rise in comparable sales would continue, and that it did not represent a "new normal."

The Retail Cyber Intelligence Sharing Center (R-CISC) has announced featured speakers for its Retail Cyber Intelligence Summit, held October 3 - 4, 2017, in Chicago.    Among the keynote speakers are Rich Agostino, chief information security officer at Target Corp, who will lead a session titled, "Stepping into Leadership: Staying Ahead of Today's Threats and the Evolving CISO Role," and Kostas Georgakopoulos, CISO at Procter & Gamble, leading a session on the next evolution of information security.  

Best Buy's Geek Squad is undergoing some changes.   The consumer electronics retailer is eliminating about 400 Geek Squad positions, the StarTribune reported. The affected jobs are on the Geek Squad’s covert team, employees who mostly work from their own homes to provide remote technical support. The work will be outsourced to a third party, according to the report.  

A consumer electronics giant is making a move to grab some wallet share from the home category.    Starting in August, Best Buy is adding Dyson Demo Experiences – dedicated spaces that will let customers try out Dyson products. Approximately 90 Best Buy stores in the United States will feature the new interactive sections, which will be designed for shoppers to test merchandise.   

Best Buy ranks highest in customer satisfaction in the $24 billion-plus appliance market.    That's according to the J.D. Power 2017 Appliance Retailer Satisfaction Study. With a score of 857, Best Buy came out on top, ahead of Lowe's (840), The Home Depot (839), Hhgregg (831) and Sears (828). Overall satisfaction with appliance retailers in 2017 is 838 points, up from 821 in 2016.   

Early indications are that competitors didn't give Amazon much competition price wise Prime Day.   The third annual shopping extravaganza, which kicked off on July 10 at 6 pm PST and was scheduled to run until the wee hours of the morning of July 12, was originally introduced as a way to reward existing Prime shoppers and attract new ones. With promises of new deals every five minutes, the company reported on Tuesday that customers worldwide are shopping at “record levels,” according to CNBC.  

Best Buy is looking to grab share in one of the hottest categories of the "smart" home market: voice-activated devices.   The retailer is adding Amazon Alexa and Google Home "experiences" to about 700 Best Buy stores nationwide. The new interactive displays will start arriving in stores in July, with the rollout complete by the end of the year.  In addition, there will be an enhanced online presence for the devices on Best Buy's e-commerce site.