Best Buy Retail Strategy Analysis
History
Best Buy is a household brand owned by Best Buy Co., Inc. which is a specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19 percent of the market. The company was founded by Richard M. Schulze and his business partner Gary Smoliak as Sound of Music, an audio specialty store, in Minnesota 1966.
In 1983, they changed the name to Best Buy and opened its first superstore in Burnsville, Minnesota, featuring expanded selling space, a wide assortment of discounted brand-name goods, central service, and warehouse distribution.
On March 9, 2009, Best Buy became the largest electronics retail store (online and bricks and mortar) in the eastern United States, after smaller rival Circuit City went out of business.
With phones from Verizon Wireless, AT&T Wireless, Sprint PCS, Boost Mobile, and T-Mobile, and standalone Best Buy Mobile stores in shopping malls that sell a subset of products carried at the larger stores, Best Buy is also a retailer of cell phones.
Culture
Best Buy has been committed to sell consumer electronics as well as a wide variety of related merchandise such as computers, software, video games, music, DVDs, Blu-raydiscs, mobile phones, digital camera, car stereos and video cameras, as well as home appliances in a non-commissioned sales environment. With its mission as “Make Technology Deliver On Its Promises”, each store of Best Buy also includes installation of car audio and video equipment, on-site installation services, as well as a Geek Squad “precinct” for computer repair and warranty service and accidental service plans.
We can find these following sentences on its website, realizing what they are trying to offer the customers: Retail is a business that requires constant innovation, new ideas, new ways to delight our customers and new ways to work together. To meet the unique product